The Bright Side
by AwakeningAngels
Summary: Everybody's got a dark side. One with greed, anger, jealousy, and hatred. However, everybody's got a bright side as well. One with care, happiness, pride, and love. 2012 Christmas fan fiction.
1. Kitty, Sam, Artie, and Joe

**Author's Note**: This is my third holiday fan fiction – a Christmas fan fiction – and I was so pumped when I thought of the storyline for it. I based this off a little skit of some sorts I did in HS, called "Check Please 3". Two people trying to find a boyfriend/girlfriend for themselves, hilarious, end up finding each other – nice.

It may not make sense a little, especially the beginning. I wanted this done before the last minute. Oh well, that's what you get when you procrastinate.

**Summary**: Everybody's got a dark side. One with greed, anger, jealousy, and hatred. However, everybody's got a bright side as well. One with care, happiness, pride, and love.

**Featured Pairings**: Jitty/Jarley, Wildehart, Jam friendship, Failed!Bram (eventual friendship), Brittana (mentioned), Brochel, Finchel (mentioned), Klaine, and Sugary/Sugartie

**Featured Settings**: McKinley High School (hallway), Rachel and Kurt's apartment, J. Carlson Grande Dining Hall

Enjoy! And merry Christmas to you all!

* * *

_**The Bright Side**_

Out of nowhere in the hallways of McKinley High School, a jolly version of _Jingle Bell Rock_ starts playing on the school's intercom, started up by a couple of jocks on the football team who attempted this request for one popular star pupil.

Roaming the hallways with her best charming smile, her Cheerios jacket snug on her arms and upper body, and passing out glittery invitations to the students was sophomore Kitty Wilde. She was poised, confident, and willing to make this the best Christmas McKinley has ever had. With the help of some of her Cheerio friends, she was able to pass out an invitation to everyone willing to come to her Christmas extravaganza.

Kitty knew that this year was going to be better than any other year possible. In a recent interview on one of Jacob Ben Israel's blogs, she reported that this will be the highlight to the holidays. How did she know? First off, it would boost her popularity and give her the chance to win homecoming princess next year – or maybe homecoming queen in her senior year, for that matter. Her star idol, Quinn Fabray, had that in the bag, she was sure.

The blonde girl felt like the Christmas princess would around this time of year. Sure, she may not always get what she wants; but she still feels chipper enough, and these students coming to her Christmas extravaganza will make it ten times better.

Kitty, turning towards a Cheerio named Tatiana, handed her ten more invitations. "Make sure you get all of the guys from the hockey team, and the rest of the girls on the volleyball team. They're huge supporters. Trust me." Kitty needed this extravaganza to be perfection for her sophomore year. She wanted everyone to come and experience such glory – even if about two or three-fifths of the school were full of lame people.

The snarky blonde made it to a set of lockers. There leaned three members of the empty-handed, melancholy Glee club known as New Directions. They had lost Sectionals for the first time in history. Kitty wouldn't be too surprised. There were only two causes to it: they performed a hideous song that isn't competition-worthy, and current and recovering bulimia victim Marley Rose actually fainted onstage.

Kitty will admit that it was her fault for all of that mess going about. She didn't like Marley that much anyways, though. She was too much of an attention grabber, like a newborn baby was to its whole family. What should be the reason? Jake Puckerman. Biracial, ultimately sexy, and the best – and maybe the worst of all – a Puckerman. He has a half brother who was able to get any girl he wanted, and was popular for his badass-ness.

Unfortunately, he wasn't looking for perky, pretty girls like Kitty; he hung around simple, bland girls like Marley. Kitty didn't understand what the big deal about her was. All she did was walk around with homemade clothes on and bitch around people that mess with either her or her mom. There wasn't anything special in Kitty's eyes.

Kitty still prayed for the girl…that she would get actual store-bought, currently-trending clothes. That one sweater she wore last month was just hideous.

"We meet again, No Directions."

She looked up at the three former members. One of them was a paraplegic with nerd glasses and those big, warm sweaters that, while covered his arms nicely, weren't attractive at all. Kitty never really cared for him. Sure, he could sing any R&B number and make a girl feel like they're melting in a scalding hot tub. But she didn't see any point in him. Plus, his sweaters weren't good-looking at all.

The one standing in the middle was blonde, pale, and wildly attractive. His arms were full of muscle and his smile was bigger than a Granny Smith apple. He was one of the pupils from New Directions that actually chipped in when everyone found out about Marley's mother. Good thing he was a National champ, or Kitty would've slushied him, too.

The one beside him had a skin tone darker than the first two, more of a caramel type. He had the longest hair Kitty had ever seen; and although he and Marley seem to have something in common in terms of clothes, he actually looked three times better than Marley did. However, his overly enthusiastic attitude wasn't appealing to Kitty at all. There was nothing to be chipper about watching someone else's performance, unless it was Kitty's. And he speaks when he's told not to.

"Listen, I know you guys are going to have a bum Christmas this year, especially you –" Her eyes directed towards the brunette with the dreadlocks, with him making a perplexed facial expression. "I know nothing of you, but your style makes me assume that you don't have much luxury." The boy's eyebrows furrowed. "But I have taken the liberty to invite you to my Christmas extravaganza on Saturday."

With that, Kitty had taken out three invitations to hand to the three boys before her. They each examined the card they have gotten and turned back to the blonde Cheerio.

"So, you're really inviting us to your Christmas party, right?" the blonde in the middle asked the short-statured girl.

"_Extravaganza_, Sam." She put emphasis on _extravaganza_ to make it more clear to him. He inched his eyebrow up and nodded understandably. "And yes, I'm inviting you. Maybe with this help, you can recover from that horrendous loss at Sectionals and open yourselves up to the glory of this magnificent holiday."

"And how do we know that this isn't another one of your schemes to ruin Marley's life and destroy her body?" the wheelchair kid asked, rolling beside the blonde as she walked down the hallway.

Kitty turned to the handicapped kid with sympathetic eyes. "Oh sweet Anthony – "

"It's Artie, actually."

Kitty waved off his comment. "Whatever." At that response, Artie almost fully rolled his eyes, but then remembered that Kitty was looking at him. "Marley is such a gentle soul, she is. But I wouldn't persuade her to commit suicide on herself. Everyone deserves a life. I was just giving her tips on clothes and stuff. It was her plan to go through this."

Artie's eyebrows furrowed. "Really? I heard from Santana a while back that –"

"That girl doesn't know what she's believing in."

Artie and Sam didn't believe what she was saying. They observed her during the beginning of the school year. Her football jock friends slushied Marley and Wade/Unique in the hallway and offended them with terrible nicknames. And then Kitty got fussy with Marley when she realized that she wasn't portraying Sandy in the school's production of _Grease_.

Both boys were thinking the same thing: Kitty could be jealous of Marley, and she possibly wants to take her down. She was one of the popular cheerleaders in the school, and she was extraordinarily hot. Not that Marley wasn't hot, but Sam and Artie couldn't put their finger on why someone as hot as Kitty would be jealous of Marley.

They both watched as Kitty turned on the ball of her foot towards them and the long-haired boy beside them. "So are you in or no?" she asked, her voice changing just a bit. "It'll be your Christmas miracle. Trust me."

Seeing that neither male had turned in their invitation to her, she smiled with much confidence. "Very well. Now I shall hand out the rest of these, see you guys on Saturday, and may this Christmas extravaganza be a huge success." And with that, the blonde headed down the hall, leaving the three boys standing there.

The boy with the dreadlocks watched her, confused. She didn't seem much of an evil little girl as Artie and Sam thought she was. Maybe he was too focused on the smallest things like the sound of her voice or the little comments she made with Jesus Christ involved.

"Do you think she's really like that?" the boy asked Sam and Artie. He didn't have a full understanding of what her deal was.

Artie turned in his direction. "Manipulation is a crazy thing, Joe. I'll be damned if she had tricked us. I mean, she's popular. And a Cheerio. The Cheerios are ruthless. They don't care much about a lot of people, and they're under the authority of ruthless cheerleading coach, Sue Sylvester."

Joe couldn't really absorb much of what Artie said. However, he did meet Sue Sylvester a couple of times in his life, and she seemed like an intimidating woman. So if anything, Kitty would probably get most of her ruthlessness from her. Or those other, snarky cheerleaders on the squad had something to do with it.

Sam fumbled with the invitation given to him. He was to attend at six-thirty at the J. Carlson Grande Dining Hall, which was the most elegant location anyone can have a sweet, smashing holiday bash at. He had gone there once before for his eighth grade graduation, and it was one of the most memorable moments of his life.

He wanted another memorable moment just like that, but without the many people crying around him and making him feel homesick a tad. "Never mind about her." He was able to get Artie and Joe's attention. "I have a question to ask."

Artie glanced up at him for a moment, sarcastically thinking of an idea of what he would say. "Is Coach Roz trying no-breathing exercises on you?"

Joe then got a little terrified. "She wants him to die?" he asked the paraplegic, thinking about panicking.

Artie waved a hand in front of him, hopefully erasing any deathly image Joe had stuck in his head. "Swim coach. He's a member." That made the dreadlocked boy feel much better.

"No," Sam explained. "It's about Kitty's party. See…" Joe and Artie both listened attentively. However, it was almost hard to get the words out of Sam's mouth. He felt a trickle of sweat running down his forehead. He wasn't even sure if his idea would carry out to proportion. "I want to bring a date, but…I don't know how to ask her."

Both boys smirked at Sam's response, and then turned back to him. "So who's the lucky Angelina Jolie?" Artie asked with his eyebrow inched up on his head. There wasn't really a surprise when Joe looked at the two, confused as to who that woman even was.

Sam took a deep breath and faced them both, making all three stop in their tracks. "Brittany S. Pierce."

Neither boy spoke up. They knew the story of the poor girl. Her heart had been broken at the beginning of the school year – even before, if one would think about it. She had to repeat her senior year over again, lost the top spot on the Cheerios, and has been distant – maybe further than that – from Santana in a short period of time.

And about a couple of months after that devastating break-up, Sam wants to hook up with her now?

Artie stuttered a little, not even believing that Sam had those type of feelings around the witty Cheerio. "Wha – I never –"

"Isn't Brittany supposed to be gay?"

Sam almost chuckled at his best bro. Of course Joe hasn't been at McKinley long enough to hear Brittany's backstory. There was a ninety-nine percent chance, though, that he might be shocked and disgusted when hearing about the facts and statistics and whatnot.

Sam placed a hand on Joe's shoulder, assuring. "Long story." Joe didn't respond. "Still, she's…well, pretty nice. Other than Santana, no one really understands her that well. She…makes peace with the world –"

"And lip syncs onstage at the pep assembly," Artie added.

Sam completely ignored Artie on that one. "She needs someone to lift her spirits while Santana is away. I don't really feel as comfortable stepping in between them, but Brittany needs someone to be there for her." Joe nods, his eyes filled with sympathy. "I just wanna be there for her."

Joe shrugged, admitting all of his thoughts. "You're supportive of her, right?" Sam nodded in agreement. "Then I think you should go get her."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. And she'll understand your purpose for it, I'm sure."

Artie waved his hand in between the two. "Uh, hello. Have you two even heard Brittany talk about the lesbian community lately? And trust me, they'd be pretty pissed off."

Joe's eyebrows furrowed. "Lesbian community?"

Artie's eyes rolled. "Yeah, that's right. You don't have a computer, I assume. Proof that you don't have Twitter."

This made the dreadlocked boy frown deeper in confusion. "What?"

Sam held his hands up in defense. "Look, Brittany plays for both teams, so –"

"So she's bi."

"Yes, Joe. She is." Joe nodded, putting that mental note in his mind. "And the fact that she's bi, well…the community will probably understand," Sam continued. "She likes both genders, and had – er, loves Santana. But they broke up, though, and I just want to –"

Artie shook his head. "You're making no sense to me." This response caused Joe to hide his smirk with his mouth, snickers coming out.

Sam huffed in frustration, looking at both Artie and Joe. They meant well to him, they really did. Artie, however, hasn't really worked well with the ladies in his past, although he recently got back together with Richy Bitch In Charge, Sugar Motta. And Joe, he stresses abstinence; so the likelihood of him understanding wouldn't be much.

Well, he did have "feelings" for Quinn, which seemed like enough. They could both relate to that, at least.

The blonde took a breath and faced the two boys. "I'll just make a move, and see how she responds. We may get together, maybe not. I just want her to be happy. She makes me happy."

At that point, a proud Joe Hart held out his hand and gave Sam a brotherly hand shake. "You'll do great. God knows it."

The handicapped boy shook his head again. "Oh, here we go."


	2. Marley, Jake, and Kitty

Marley Rose was only a normal teenage girl in William McKinley High School, who wanted the same thing as any hopeful teenage girl would want around Christmas time: the Christmas spirit, the Christmas songs and gifts, and the Christmas miracle most of all.

Well, not so much of a miracle. But she hoped this Christmas would be better than the last. Going to the same dinner party as a drunk seventeen-year-old was nowhere on her agenda.

"Marley!"

And that's when her whole world seemed to flip upside down in so much anxiety.

Jake Puckerman. Attractive, defensive, muscular, and bright. She looked cute to Marley's eyes, actually. And whenever he spoke – scratch that, when he _sang_ – Marley felt the wings of the butterflies in her stomach flapping away and making her light headed. For the most part, Marley knew what it was like to be the good girl hanging around with the tough, popular guy.

Well, Jake wasn't that tough. And he was a loner sometimes, for the most part. Still, he could be when he wanted to be.

He walked up to the brunette sophomore with a smile on his face. "Hey." Marley could tell he was just flat-out nervous, or he wanted something from her.

"Hey," Marley replied with a cheeky smile.

"Listen, what are you doing this Saturday?"

The brunette never really thought about it. She considered staying home and watching the _25 Days of Christmas_ marathon, but that didn't seem to help anything. Maybe this was Jake's shot in asking the girl out for a date. Maybe that was her miracle this year.

"Well…unless you're willing to come to my house and watch a Christmas marathon with me –"

"Are you serious?"

Marley shrugged. "What? It has Charlie Brown."

The biracial male made a stale face at the porcelain beauty before him. "Isn't the Peanuts getting a little…old?"

"They're classics. Always have been since before we were even born."

"Oh, so _This Christmas_, starring the hip swagger Chris Brown, isn't a classic, you say?"

Marley pressed her lips together, sheepishly. "Not for my taste."

Half brother to the former resident badass of McKinley High School will admit that he and his ultimate crush have different tastes in movies and music. Whenever he saw Marley, he imagined a Katy Perry tune or an Adele number being her muse.

Jake, however, was literally all over the place with music. He was mostly into love ballads and R&B, though. Usually it would give people a headache to hear the same tune almost five hundred times on their IPods. Jake didn't mind. He, in fact, heard _Climax_ over four hundred and fifty-seven times, according to his IPod Touch.

It didn't really matter to him, though. At least when he was with Marley and the other members of the former New Directions, he got a chance to hear a wide number of genres.

Jake smirked at her adorableness. The lunch lady's daughter's eyes shone like gemstones found in a dark cave, the sunlight sprinkling down on it. He thought she was a wonderful specimen and anything positive that leaves him in a daze. Her mother had to get her out of the house a little more, though. The poor brunette can't possibly be moping around in the house alone.

Perfect timing, Puckerman. Perfect timing.

"I have another proposition, though." Marley gazed at the shy smile on his face he always made when looking at her. She could pinch his cheek right now if this was her daydreaming in Latin class right now.

"Well…um, this Saturday –" Jake cleared his throat nervously, tugging at his shirt collar. Was it really hot in here, did he wear too many layers, or did the school turn on the heating up to max? "There is a Christmas party at the, um…the J. Carlson Grande Dining Hall –"

He was cut off by an excited Marley Rose perking up with a little squeal. "They host the best weddings. And they had a prom extravaganza back in 2009 that was put on MTV." Okay, maybe her taste wasn't as different from Jake's as he thought it would be.

"Prom King: Danny Hathaway."

"Prom Queen: Maria Freeman."

"Prom _Drama_ Queen: Tiffany Winchester!" They both teased in unison, sharing laughs about the widely ridiculous special on MTV with the crazy, obsessive blonde girl destined to be Bridezilla when she hits relatively around twenty-three.

"I heard somewhere that rumor of her being in the pageant circuit was fake, though," Marley continued, retrieving a stuffed Christmas dog on a chain that hung on the inside of her locker.

Jake furrowed. "She had all of those trophies."

"She has an older sister, too."

Jake learned one thing, at least: he'll never understand real or fake rumors ever in his life.

He shook his head for a moment, getting back into the main focus of the conversation. His nerves got the better of him once again as he gazed back at the baby-faced sophomore. He heard the stories from his half brother when he got a crush on a girl. Well, most of them weren't _crushes_ per say; he just looked at a really hot chick and smoothly guided them to the Puckasaurus Express.

Jake didn't know what made him think that way. Must've been because he was one of the many badasses that was on the football team and was widely popular.

"So…" Marley spoke up as she grabbed a red dry-erase marker from her purse to draw with on the dry-erase board. "What about the dining hall thing?"

"Oh yeah." Jake kept on zoning out each second. Why was Marley this much of a distraction to him? "Uh, the Christmas party I was talking about…" Marley nodded before he could continue on, which made him gaze at her beautiful blue eyes for a moment more.

Jake cleared his throat again. Man, Puck wouldn't be pleased when he saw this right now. "Marley…I was wondering if you wouldn't mind –"

And just when he had a shot of giving Marley the words she had been waiting all throughout the beginning of the school year, a raspy voice comes from behind the brunette girl: "Well, well, well. If it isn't the caramel chocolate wonder, John Grogan, and his fluffy adopted puppy, Marley."

Jake never knew why Kitty would come at times when she wasn't supposed to. It's not that she wasn't ever allowed to come speak with him; he just felt she came at certain, wrong times. Like now, when he's trying to get his point across, and Marley's standing there, defenseless.

He watched as the brunette stepped closer to the lockers, leaning against them as best as she could so Kitty won't terrorize her or anything.

"Kitty," Jake spoke to the blonde Cheerio, "can I have my talk with Marley please?"

He figured the girl would go around the school by now, spreading rumors about Tina Cohen-Chang's Asian bird flu, or the "pregnancy" or whatever of Unique Adams, who was just an alter ego of Marley's best friend, Wade. However, the girl didn't budge. Her arms were folded in front of her chest, grinning at the two. "Gladly."

Jake wasn't going to wait anymore. He had been waiting for this moment ever since he found out about it, and he was anxious to know what Marley's response was. "So, um, Marley," he spoke again, his eyes directed to the girl in front of her. "I was wondering if, maybe –"

Pretending to read journal notes in her red composition notebook, Kitty cleared her throat and skimmed through the words on paper – which was actually a picture of a deformed Marley Rose with reindeer horns on her head and a Santa Claus beard on her face.

"And so, the quite hunky junk Jake Puckerman glides on through the school, approximately five days and almost twelve hours until Christmas Day, to reunite with the lonesome, lifeless excuse of a teenage girl by the name of Marley Rose." Jake gritted his teeth at Kitty's excuse for a fake Christmas tale. "His sparkly eyes meet Marley's blue, plain ones; and he sucks in the glory that is to be share with just a look at the poor, naïve McKinley High student –"

"Kitty, knock it off." Jake knew what this was. Kitty's jealousy was coming back. Even after a devastating loss at Sectionals and the whole school losing the best Glee club in the nation, Kitty returns to her old ways and tries bringing Marley down once again.

The bitchy blonde closed her book up and glared at the sophomore Puckerman, who seemed nothing at all like the Bastard In Charge Kitty recognized from the football team section in the school yearbook, posing next to a white guy with a neat buzz cut and an Asian-looking fellow with the fittest body in the world. "I can always do my version of _A Christmas Carol_, if you're interested."

"No, I'm pretty sure that one will get bad reviews on ITunes books."

Marley couldn't help but snicker at Jake's hilarious remark. He was so sweet when he wanted to be. Defending her from the wrath of Kitty seemed to be one of the main priorities when it came to making friends and keeping them at McKinley High School. He wouldn't do that with anyone else.

She accepted Jake's defense, though. While Kitty was only a regular school cheerleader with almost the same motives as the others, she was pretty dangerous. Was that how she got her name?

"No, I'm pretty sure it'll be number one on the evening news," she replied to Jake's previous comment before turning to Marley. "As for you, Pillsbury Dough Girl," she sassed, "if you're not stuffing your face with what the incapable Italian chef sent over from his restaurant thirty miles away, I would like to reluctantly invite you to my Christmas extravaganza on Saturday."

The snarky sophomore cheerleader handed Marley a glittery green invitation with the exact location – J. Carlson Grande Dining Hall, to be exact – and the time, sixty-thirty. Marley wouldn't expect a girl like Kitty to invite her to these type of things. Knowing this invitation, Marley could be tricked into a bucket full of pig's blood or a slippery floor leading her to crash into a table full of chocolate cakes that could ruin her outfit.

"T-thanks…" Marley told the shorter girl in much confusion, not sure whether she should smile or reject the invitation.

Marley didn't know what to think of Kitty anymore. She thought she was nice, especially after the thought of her buying Marley's clothes from then on. Unfortunately, she only bought a couple of outfits – two skirts, a pair of jeans, three shirts, and a pair of shoes to go with one of the skirts. After that, she never really got involved. It could be worth a shot, though. Maybe she was going to change after all.

Kitty grinned, showing off her watermelon lip gloss. "Awesome," she responded, which made Marley smile faintly. She was getting a little comfortable talking with the blonde, until –

"Oh, you have to bring a date, though."

Marley's heart skipped a beat when she heard that. There was no point in asking Jake due to the Cheerio standing there next to him, shoulders broad and intense stare looking towards Marley's direction. The brunette wasn't sure if Ryder would make it; he had studying to do with the special education specialist, and he might not be able to attend at all.

Marley hated when Kitty did this. This was her one shot in asking Jake to the Christmas extravaganza – at least when Kitty left to another area. Now Marley will be alone, moping around the dining ball and watching a whole bunch of guys with their arms snaked around their girlfriends' bodies.

She hoped she wouldn't cry and lock herself in the bathroom like she did when she went to the Spring Fling at her school in sixth grade.

"I…" Marley wanted to say who she had on her mind, but that would ruin Jake's morning. "I was suggesting…maybe Ryder or something, but –"

"Oh, Bieber's son from the future?" the Cheerio asked. "Go right ahead. Too bad he won't be able to read his invitation. I had it all neatly written and everything. And with glitter and gold beads!"

Jake could care less about the decoration on Kitty's invitations. He just couldn't believe Marley was fooled like that. "Why aren't single people allowed to this party, Kitty?"

"_Extravaganza_, Jake," Kitty growled. "And if you're lucky, you could win that Couple for Christmas prize. It's one of the raffles planned by a few hockey jocks and cheerleaders they suggested at lunch last week. Winning couple gets their photo taken, the prize of their choice selected from under the Christmas tree, and the Golden Torch."

"The what?" Both Marley and Jake asked simultaneously.

"Statue with a mini wreath thrown on the top. Just for the festive theme," Kitty added. She looked at both of them and slumped her arms. "So, you and Ryder want in, Marley?"

The brunette frowned her eyes. "Me and Ryder?"

"You said you suggested him, right?" Kitty asked. She was coming on to Marley. The lunch lady's daughter could sense it. "And of course I'm not gonna let Jake get away from me like that. Like I said before, no one – and I mean _no one_ – breaks up with Kitty Wilde." She gave Marley a moment to think about her answer. "So are you in or out? Look, I can always put you in the grande dog house right next door from the party and make friends with a Christmas beagle and a yellow parakeet, if that's okay."

Marley didn't say anything. She just shot Jake a disappointed look, and then looked back at Kitty. How come she didn't have much authority the blonde did? It would've made her so loose and free-spirited. Plus, she would actually make peace with the world than anything Kitty comes up with.

"I don't know. I'll think about it." And with that, Marley closed her locker and rushed to the ladies' bathroom, leaving Jake annoyed with his former girlfriend.

"Kitty, you need to stop doing this. You don't know if I wanted to –"

"Stop doing what? I was giving my fellow former Glee club member a decision on the time of her life. Did I mean to cause harm? No. I just wanted to give her an opportunity."

Jake halfway rolled his eyes. _An opportunity to make an ass of herself._

Kitty perked up for a second, grabbing her long ponytail and stroking at the length. "So what are you wearing then? Will our colors match, or do you wanna wear one color and I wear the other?"

"I think I'll just head on to lunch now."

Jake took his scooter and skated through the school hallway. Kitty was left behind, watching him put the energy in his right leg and his stiff ass sticking up from under his leather jacket. Damn, he was so hot, especially to Kitty. She hoped she would be able to get one good dance with him, if not win with him in the Couple of Christmas raffle.

"Will you at least help me bake cookies tomorrow? Promise?"

However, Jake was already gone into the lunch room. The blonde pouted for a moment, and stroked at her ponytail again. Disregarding the whole Marley situation, she thought one thing was wrong. "Maybe it's my hair."


	3. Sam and Joe

This had been the most embarrassing rest of the day Sam has ever had, and it wasn't just dealing with the fact that he lost his lunch money on the way from Astronomy class.

It had been a while since his blushing and crushing on a girl had gotten extremely to the max. The first time was with McKinley alumnus, Quinn Fabray. People would understand why back then. She was slender, hot, blonde, and beautiful, without a zit or scar anywhere in sight. He didn't think she was that much into him when they first met. She made him feel younger than he's supposed to be – hell, a _freshman_. Turns out back then, it was just a lame joke getting in the way of Quinn reuniting with her prom-king boyfriend.

Pretty much after that, he didn't have anyone else to turn to…except for the chocolate in his shake: Mercedes Jones.

She was just as pretty as Quinn, and her voice was powerful and sweet. Sam could only remember the fling they had over summer after New Directions had lost Nationals in New York. The magic wouldn't stop taking its course as their heartfelt relationship continued. Unfortunately, the girl graduated and lead her own life in the city of Los Angeles, which sounded more exciting than hanging around a bunch of hockey jocks who seemed to have the most ridiculous hairstyles.

Sam's now alone, and wishing he had more time to spend with one of his former girlfriends before he graduated. Particularly Mercedes. He had so much fun with her. He loved their special Friday night dates and their Saturday night movies. Now that she's gotten a record deal, they broke up due to the long distance relationship thing being too much for the two of them.

And now, in search of comfort, Sam has laid her eyes on another beautiful soul: Brittany S. Pierce. He could care less if he saw her in a Cheerios uniform most of the time. He could care less if she was dumbfounded by most of the Glee club. She was still beautiful, sweet, and really smart to the dyslexic blonde. Despite the fact that she practically slept with almost everyone in McKinley, she was something special to Sam. And ultimately sexy, he thought as he walked into the auditorium.

Around that time, him crushing on Brittany felt to be a little too much…literally. He had just gotten done with his swimming lessons, being that he's an active member of the synchronized swimming team. He was better than he thought he was, except for the fact that the swim coach, Coach Roz, always commented on how his nipples and lips looked.

When it was time to dry off and hit the showers, a couple of seniors were laughing at him. Sam suspected that they didn't know he noticed, because they were still laughing and talking amongst themselves. Then two girls he recognized that were on the Cheerios were laughing at him. He felt like the odd one out, and he didn't know why.

And that's when his face got redder than his swim short. Actually, speaking of his swim shorts –

An erection. He had the most massive erection since Mercedes performed _Disco Inferno_ last year. He didn't understand why he didn't catch that earlier. All he knew was that everyone in the pool area had seen him and started teasing him behind his back. Sam thought he saw Sugar Motta off the side somewhere, taking a close-up photo and putting it on her Instagram page.

He couldn't stay in there any longer. Probably the swim coach would come see him, and question about his sexually active mind – though he wasn't even sexually active at the moment. He just ran into the boys' locker room, ignoring the chuckles coming from behind locker sets, and just ran into the school auditorium.

That's when he had to admit that it was true: he had a huge crush on Brittany S. Pierce. Only this time, it was for himself and not her.

He could care less about the constant teasing from the other McKinley students and the big bulge stiffening up in his jeans; he had a lot on his mind right now, and he wished he could only get one wish come true this year for Christmas: to make Brittany his girlfriend.

He saw the piano sitting off the side on the stage. It was black and beautiful – just like he told Mercedes when he had that discussion with her over the summer. The red spotlight that was on for some odd reason shone on it, making it the brightest object in the room. The red lighting made him think of how Christmas is coming, and the little kids of the world sitting on Santa's lap in the mall, requesting many gifts that were on their lists.

That light meant something else. He imagined proposing to a girl one night. He didn't really see the face of the girl until now. He could see a porcelain face with blonde, flowing hair and blue, sparkling eyes. She had a smile that could fill a million hearts. She had a voice that reached out to everyone. She had the energy that could fill a whole room. She even had the humor comedy television couldn't bring nowadays.

Sam almost hit himself upside the head. Did he really just think all of that about Brittany?

He walked over to the shiny piano and sat there, eyeing the keys and remembering a song he had listened to last Christmas on the radio. It was a song called _Whispering Hope_ by Anne Murray. He loved that song ever since. With that, he got his fingers relaxed and played the piano version of the beautiful tune.

_**Sam**_

_Soft as the voice of an angel  
__Breathing a lesson unheard  
__Hope, with a gentle persuasion  
__Whisper her comforting word_

_Wait till the darkness is over  
__Wait till the tempest is done  
__Hope for the sunshine tomorrow  
__After the shower is done_

The blonde boy knew that this part of the song specifically related to Brittany's situation. She had lost Santana because of what she herself did, and also what happened with Santana back in Kentucky. Santana had an attraction with another girl, and Sam was pretty sure she felt guilty about it. Brittany was devastated, for sure. She ran out of the choir room once Santana left, her eyes red and spilling out a bunch of tears.

When Sam found her at her locker, taking down the pictures on her door, he felt guilty as well. They loved each other very much. Santana defended her almost each time, and Brittany always considered Santana as awesome and a majorly hot role model. Sure, lady sex and scissoring was always mentioned. Aside from that, though, there was actually love between them.

Sometimes, Sam wondered why he was getting in the middle of this relationship anyway, thinking of ways to gush up to Brittany at a Christmas party – _extravaganza_, as Kitty would put it.

_**Sam**_

_Whispering hope  
__Oh how welcome thy voice  
__Making my heart  
__In its sorrow rejoice_

_Whispering hope  
__Oh how welcome thy voice  
__Making my heart  
__In its sorrow rejoice_

He had ended the song on a beautiful note he added with a little harmony in his voice. It sounded like a tune his mother would cry to at night at the thought of her family's security. Being that Sam's parents were poor, his mother had a hard time raising Sam and his two younger siblings. Sam hoped good things were looking up, especially after his father had started working for Apple.

Once Sam took his fingers off the piano keys, he heard shuffling coming from behind him. He knew those footsteps anywhere. They sounded like wood blocks rubbing against each other or something.

He didn't even have to turn around to know who it was. The scent was coming onto him. What the hell was that, pine or something? "Something on your mind, bro?"

Sam was always felt honored when Joe called him _bro_ each time. He really did feel like an older brother to the faithful, dreadlocked junior. He didn't think much of the overly enthusiastic boy when he transferred to McKinley last year and joined the God Squad, which had decreased in numbers when Mercedes and Quinn graduated. They could still get more members, but Sam would have to leave Joe behind.

The brunette-haired male stood behind Sam, looking down on him with his backpack strap hanging over his right shoulder. He looked concerned for Sam since he seemed he was about to break down after that song he was singing. It was a beautiful song to Joe, but something about Sam singing it at that moment had him puzzled.

"Not much," Sam replied with a sigh, and Joe took a seat beside him on the piano bench.

He placed his bag on the floor behind him and turned to his older friend. "Is that all?" Joe asked with his hands in his lap. "Aren't you going to tell me?"

Sam shook his head and ran his hand through his blonde hair. "Too much of a secret…or it was a secret thirty minutes ago."

Joe folded his arms. "You can't even tell a secret to your own bro, Sam? I'm a faithful person, you know that. I won't tell anyone. And from the looks of it, you need help with something."

"Bros don't tell other bros everything, Joe."

"Not even if they had a bad date with a girl they really liked because his breath had stunk from the amount of onions he had in his gyro? And the aftermath after eating the tainted lunch meat?"

Sam snickered for a moment. He remembered when he and Joe were sitting with Mike Chang at lunch last year, and he told that one story where he had some pizza, which gave him diarrhea for the rest of the afternoon. He was forced to stay at home, and Tina was disgusted for a while until the disaster was over. Sam would understand if he was Tina.

The blonde looked back at Joe, who was holding back a laugh. "Fine then. Okay." Joe's laugh went away and brought back his concerned look, facing his best friend. "Okay, so you remember about me asking Brittany to the party on Saturday, right?"

Joe's eyebrow inched up a little. "Don't you mean _extravaganza_, Sam?"

Sam gritted his teeth. Why did Kitty have to be so precise? "Yeah, whatever." Joe leaned in to listen a little more to Sam's story. "So when I thought about how I would pretty much ask her and stuff, I sorta came to one conclusion." Joe nodded, not saying a word until Sam said, "That I…_like_ Brittany. That I crush on her badly."

"That sounds like a good sign, right?"

"Not when it involves people around you laughing and teasing you."

Joe's eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

Sam took a deep breath, thinking of how foul this discussion would get. Joe thought the same way before. He remembered when he came to him for advice when he had a major crush on Quinn. Who couldn't? She was beautiful and special, everything Joe would want. But it was getting in the way of his religion. Actually, they were getting in the way of each other.

Joe wasn't the kind that wanted to sex girls up like Puck did. But he felt he shouldn't always remember the Bible or anything when it came to Quinn. He wanted to be with her, and nothing else. Quinn was the prettiest, nicest, best-smelling girl he's ever met, as he worded it.

Maybe it won't get awkward as Sam thought. He and Joe previously had this conversation.

"A few minutes ago, I was done with my swim lessons with the coach –" He watched Joe nod, and then continued. "And when I got out, a couple of people had noticed me… show off, I guess."

Joe saw Sam's face getting red. Of course, of all people, he knew. That's what the dreadlocked boy looked like when he rushed into the bathroom the day he had his first erection in the physical therapy place when he was helping Quinn. He had almost kissed her. He really wanted to. Unfortunately, his strong religious beliefs weren't letting him.

With the help of Sam, he was able to confess everything to the Yale-bound girl before she graduated, because it was all true. He really did like Quinn. He was his first crush ever since he transferred to McKinley.

Too bad for him that she headed on to Connecticut. Joe only prayed she didn't get into any crap like the little kids from Newtown.

"Of course," Joe spoke, with Sam responding with a nod. "So they laughed at you and stuff?"

"Yeah," Sam answered. "While that was embarrassing and stuff, I thought only one thing when I found out my body wanted to act that way. I…actually like Brittany more than I thought I did before."

Joe smirked. This was bringing back memories, for sure. "Sam, you're an awesome friend. Not just to me, but Brittany and everyone else from New Directions. You know that, right?"

"I try, man. I try." They both shared a couple of giggles before Joe continued.

"I'm sure Brittany would like to spend time with you this Saturday," Joe went on. "Do you want to know why?" Sam nodded. "Because you're a loving, thoughtful person to everyone. God taught us all to love one another. Honor thy mother and father. We cherish people on earth like we do with the Lord."

Sam had a smile on his face. Boy, did he miss Joe's speeches about Jesus Christ and Christianity or what? "Amen to that."

Joe's smile grew as well. "You'll do well with her, I'm sure. You're going to take her to that extravaganza this weekend, and you'll cheer her up with all of the impressions you can come up with –"

"Can I use my Patrick Stewart one?"

"Who?"

Sam's eyes almost bugged out of his head. "You don't know who he is?"

Joe shamefully shook his head at the senior male. "Sorry, dude."

Sam could face palm himself at that moment. Damn, Joe. How has no one brought you out further than you are right now?

"Regardless," Joe said, shaking his head, "you'll make her happy. She'll recover from all of the sadness she has been going through lately. You'll give her the Christmas any girl wants. You'll make this all right, Sam."

Sam was so thankful Joe was there with him. He actually needed him to be there for his bro right now. He shook hands with Teen Jesus and gave him a brotherly hug they both accepted warmly. Maybe one day, if Joe isn't over Quinn, he could find the girl of his dreams to have a crush on, and Sam could help him the way he just assisted with him and Brittany.

Well, that moment came sooner than expected, actually.

"Uh, Joe?" Sam asked the boy awkwardly, wondering if he noticed if anything was strange about what he was seeing.

"Yeah man?" the dreadlocked boy asked.

"Do you have a banana in your pocket?"

This caused Joe to pull away from Sam quickly and look at him like he was crazy as hell. Obviously, bananas were too big to fit that far into a boy's jeans. "What the heck does that mean?"

Shamefully, Sam looked down for a second and then back to his Christian friend. "I mean you have a banana in your pocket."

It took Joe almost five seconds to look down and realize what he meant. He grew red everywhere, making that gassy baby face he made when he got nervous. "Sorry about that, dude," he replied sheepishly, wanting to hide somewhere.

Sam smirked once again. "Quinn made another visit?"

Joe seemed sad when he shook his head, especially after hearing rumors from Brittany a couple of weeks ago about Quinn being with a Yale professor. Yes, love was love to him; but seeing Quinn with another guy not only annoyed him, but made him even more worried about him.

Now…hell, he didn't know how most of Quinn got away from his memory.

"No, she's still in Connecticut." Sam nodded understandably. "But I have been hanging out with someone lately."

"Anyone I know?"

Joe nodded. "Oh, I think you know her."

* * *

**Author's Note**: Well, judging by the little hints I gave you before the first chapter, I'm pretty sure you know who Joe's other crush is…

So, what did you think of Sam and Joe's bromance? Yay? Nay? Okay? Alright. Stay tuned for the next chapter.

**Featured Song**:

"Whispering Hope" by Anne Murray. Sung by Sam Evans.


	4. Rachel and Kurt

People back in Lima, Ohio probably don't get a lot of chances to make their dreams come true. Rachel Berry and Kurt Hummel, however, that's a different story.

About five years ago, they didn't like each other. Let alone they didn't agree with each other and always wanted to be better than the other. And somehow almost every time Rachel strides in that choir room to request to the Glee club director, Will Schuester, about yet another lead role in a musical that would suit her liking and abilities, Kurt had the need to always compete against her. If they weren't best friends now and were still in that choir room, Kurt would have another chance to not only get the starring role and outshine the Jewish girl, but to perfect at _Defying Gravity_. Singing it in his freshman year was not the best singing moment Kurt has had.

All of that was in the past, though. Totally ancient history. Now they made friends through almost the most hopeless journey, and living life in the city of New York City. Yes, New York City: the place Rachel literally obsessed over throughout her whole high school experience, and imagined singing at before the day she died. It was a glorious place, and had lights shining everywhere in the busy city you went. It was like Christmas never ended.

The New York-bound college students now lived together in a loft Kurt had found shortly after he arrived. Rachel was glad to see her best friend, for she was stressed out and alone while she was fulfilling her term in the New York Academy of Dramatic Arts, known as NYADA, and dancing her ass off under the direction of strict dance teacher, Cassandra July.

Yes, Cassandra July. She was one of the best dance teachers at that school. She may have had fallen dreams going down the shoot straight to the burning flames of hell, but she still kept up with inspiring and influencing others, and keeping her body in tip-top shape. However, she was hard on her students. She yelled at them until their ears bled. She made them dance until their toes broke off and the sweat made puddles on the floor.

Kurt was pretty terrified of the woman when he first met her in person. Back then, though, she seemed pretty different than she was when he witnessed her in a YouTube video that was posted a few years back. Kurt was glad he wasn't actually there, texting something to his bowtie-addicted boyfriend about going to Carnegie Hall or something like that during Spring Break. The tune to Wham's _Wake Me Up Before You Go Go_ would probably start playing, and everyone – even the NYADA Bitch In Charge, Cassie July – would get distracted.

With the exception of the blonde woman at Rachel's new school, the two friends wanted to have a wonderful time together in New York, starting with getting back the Christmas spirit they seemed to miss last year. Sure, they loved the time and effort Artie Abrams put into the Christmas special, but they wanted a special Christmas of their own to celebrate.

A while ago, Kurt had suggested that he and Rachel should have a _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_ themed Christmas, similar to the the funeral New Directions put on for Sue's sister, Jean. The only difference would be that everything was happier and not full of grief, and they'd get a bunch of red, green, gold, and white things, along with some chocolate-covered cherries, and singing both of their Christmas repertoires. While Rachel loved that idea, she assumed that he was thinking too much of the winter ball back two Christmases ago.

Rachel herself wasn't sure what she wanted to do. New York was a big city, and she could do so much there. Looking at the sights wasn't a good option, although it was still an option. She could do that any day of the week. Perhaps maybe a cruise in Hawaii or something, but that costs a lot of money, and she's already trying to get a part-time job to pay for the rent in the place she lived.

The New York divas were in the loft on Saturday afternoon, decorating the house with all of the Christmas decorations they had brought with them to New York. They didn't have much with them. They had lights to hand on the walls and windows, some Christmas bells, a table decoration in the shape of Frosty the Snowman, and a couple of framed photographs from previous Christmas moments. They could've brought more, like the tall lamp in the shape of a Christmas tree Kurt had, but it was too much along with his luggage to bring.

They continued decorating the place with what they had, sharing friendly glances at each other as one of their favorite all-time Christmas tunes started playing on the radio. And as always, Rachel would want to drag Kurt along and ask for the favor to sing along.

_**Rachel  
**__It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas  
__Everywhere you go  
__Take a look at the 5 and 10  
__It's glistening once again  
__With candy canes and silver lanes that glow_

She extends her hand out to Kurt, who was opening a box of CDs and DVDs for them to watch when they were not busy over the weekend. So many times, Kurt requested for them to watch _Funny Girl_ or the Christmas classic _Love, Actually_ so many times and waited for this moment to get in the mood and kick back with his glass of grapefruit juice. While Rachel agreed, she decided that they didn't have to lounge around so much; she just wanted to get up and move around with her fabulous gay buddy.

Kurt wasn't denying Rachel's request, either, for he had taken her hand and skipped along the floor with the short brunette.

_**Kurt  
**__It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas  
__Toys in every store  
__But the prettiest sight to see  
__Is the holly that will be  
__On your own front door_

_**Rachel and Kurt  
**__A pair of hop-along boots and a pistol that shoots  
__Is the wish of Barney and Ben  
__Dolls that will talk and go for a walk  
__Is the hope of Janice and Jen  
__Mom and Dad could hardly wait for school to start again_

They twirled all over the room, different-colored tinsel in their arms and swinging each other around. Rachel discarded her share of tinsel to the wooden floor, and skipped into the kitchen where turkey was cooking in the oven, and Kurt's famous Christmas cookies were cooling off on the counter. She took a bite of one that was in the shape of a snowflake, cheeks blushing and her smile widening.

Kurt smirked just looking at her. He'll admit that he's a mad-ass cook, and he can make any recipe that'll bring on that huge Rachel Berry grin.

_**Rachel  
**__It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas_

_**Kurt  
**__Toys in every store_

Before he knew it, he had Rachel's right hand, dancing around with her again. Usually he would do this with Blaine in his warm house with the macaroni and cheese cooking in the oven and red, white, and green light bulbs in the lamps and stuff. Then they would end their duet under the mistletoe where they share a five-minute make-out session – only if Kurt's parents and his stepbrother, Finn wasn't around.

Actually, this seemed pretty much like the same thing. Except they didn't have multi-colored light bulbs, and making out with Rachel Berry was the last thing she wanted to do with her as opposed to have the friendship kind of relationship. Plus, that wouldn't really help his problems with the break-up between him and Blaine anyway.

_**Rachel and Kurt  
**__But the prettiest sight to see  
__Is the holly that will be  
__On your own front door  
__Sure, it's Christmas  
__Once more_

Kurt had twirled Rachel around like a ballerina in a music box right around when the song started to end, sharing a laugh with her and giving her a high-five for her bold, undeniable voice. Rachel sat in the comfy lounge chair by the fire place to take a break from the little dancing they did.

Rachel, resting from the wonderful dance break she had with Kurt, found the taste of his famous cookies in her mouth. The frosting especially almost made her want to drool. "You know, Betty Crocker has a stellar taste in pastries," she told her best friend, "but they're almost nothing compared to your specialties."

Kurt was at the dinner table setting the plates for their early dinner. He turned to the short brunette girl with another smirk on his face. "That's because she doesn't have my charm."

"And your secret ingredients," Rachel commented as she got up and made her way back into the kitchen for another cookie. "What did you put in these?" She took the Christmas tree-shaped one and took a bite.

"Not telling." Kurt placed some cinnamon-flavored pine cones on the dresser for decoration.

"Kurt, it has been since last year since I found out you could make something as mouth-watering as this, and you're still not going to tell me?"

"Then it won't be so much of a _secret_ ingredient, Rachel."

Rachel shrugged reluctantly, taking another bite into her cookie. "I guess not," she admitted, leaning against the counter and watching Kurt step over. She took a sniff of the last bit of her cookie before eating the rest. "It's almost Christmas time," she finally said. "What are we going to do? You got any plans or –"

Kurt shook his head. "Not much for me to do, really," he explained. "Ever since Blaine and I broke up, we don't really spend much time together. As of my dad, he's probably doing something with Finn's mom right now."

"What about Finn?"

"Stuck trying to figure out a strategy for New Directions since their downfall."

Rachel nodded understandably, thinking about the former football jock. She missed him, she really did. The last time she spoke with him was when she won the Winter Showcase. That didn't seem like a long way away, but it was very close to it. She hadn't seen in his face in a while, though. Rachel wondered how he was holding up with New Directions. She hadn't seen Tina, Sam, and Artie in a while, either. She loved them in _Grease_, but that was a month ago.

She missed everything. She loved New York, but she missed everything. She wished she could have the present, but also keep the past with her, too. Finn, especially, since he was everything to her. However, she couldn't change anything that happened in the past, like Quinn told her. Plus, Finn was a complete ass before the break-up.

Rachel snapped out of her thoughts. It was a few more days until Christmas. Thinking about depressing stuff such as she and Finn breaking up was not a part of the to-do list for the holidays. She planned on having fun this year. She was going to make this happen.

Out of nowhere, they hear a beep coming from Rachel's phone on the counter. She retrieves it to check the messages she got from the person on the other end. Surprisingly, it was Tina Cohen-Chang, the girl who confidently knew she was going to be "the new Rachel" once Rachel graduated from McKinley. Unfortunately, thanks to some minor setbacks, Blaine ended up taking that spot.

That was such a poor day for Tina.

"Who is it?" Kurt asked, retrieving some eggnog from the fridge.

"It's Tina," she told him.

Kurt's eyebrows raised, impressed. "Tina, eh? I hardly talk with her as much as I used to."

"Maybe she's getting over the fact that New Directions lost. Or maybe her and Mike Chang's break-up. I'm not sure, but she does seem pretty distant from us."

"She talked with us before the production of _Grease_."

"That wasn't much of a conversation, Kurt." Rachel pointed to her phone screen. "This isn't, either."

Kurt shrugged, getting ready to drink his eggnog. "She hardly talks much."

"That's true."

Rachel pressed the _Okay_ button on her phone, and checked the message that was sent to her. The first thing she saw was a picture of a Christmas invitation with a whole bunch of glittery decorations on it. Rachel gazed upon the message that went along with it.

_Christmas extravaganza at the J. Carlson Grande Dining Hall on Saturday at 6:30, hosted by McKinley sophomore Kitty Wilde. Bring any additional friends and enjoy a night of magic. – Tina Cohen-Chang_

Rachel nodded, impressed. She had no idea who Kitty was – maybe somebody in New Directions – but the thought of an extravaganza seemed to lighten her spirits.

"Rach, what did it say?" Kurt asked.

"Tina says that there's a Christmas extravaganza hosted by someone named Kitty Wilde, and –"

Kurt's eyebrows furrowed. "Is that the porn star?"

"Sophomore, actually." Kurt nodded. "She's hosting the extravaganza at the J. Carlson Grande Dining Hall tonight, and Tina wants to know if we could come."

"Tina's inviting us?" Kurt asked, turning over to Rachel, and she nods. "Sounds pretty intriguing." However, there were seconds of doubt after Kurt had said that. "Should we go? I mean, we're trying to come up with Christmas plans ourselves, but –"

"We might as well. We have nothing planned anyway."

Kurt grinned. "Okay then, I'll go find my best elf-esque suit." He strode on out of the kitchen area with a grin on his face, heading on into his room to find his best Christmas clothes. Sure, it was only a party planned by a young sophomore girl, but he still had that Christmas spirit in him and he was willing to have this to be the best, regardless of a little break-up.

Rachel, however, was protective of Kurt. And she wouldn't want him to embarrass himself at a high school Christmas party.

"Kurt," she called. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"What? I hadn't worn it since I had gone to a party with Blaine two years ago. It's still nearly new."

"You're gonna be the shameful center of attention, is what I mean," Rachel teased, not getting rid of the memory of him in a kilt at their junior prom, and Kurt was elected Prom Queen of 2011. That was probably the worst night ever for him, which made Rachel feel guilty. But the outfit was too much.

"You're one to talk. You wore a bunch of stuffed animals stapled together for Gaga week," Kurt said. "And that Britney outfit that almost showed off your boobs." He almost got disgusted at the thought of Rachel's breasts.

Rachel smirked, retrieving some eggnog from the fridge. "Whatever."

* * *

**Author's Note**: Well, there's Hummelberry for you. Guess they'll be attending the party - er, extravaganza - after all, right?

**Featured Song**:  
"It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas" by Michael Buble. Sung by Rachel and Kurt.


	5. Artie, Joe, Sugar, and Rory

Kitty stood near the front of the dining area with her hands on her hips, gazing at the red and gold decorations and matching furniture being put around in the space. The food and desserts looked wonderfully set and absolutely delicious, especially the vanilla and chocolate cupcakes with the green, white, and red frosting. The DJ had just come and started playing some Christmas music, and the first few guests had just entered the room.

This was turning out the way she wanted it. She loved everything – the decorations, the food, the music, the fact that a whole bunch of people were showing up – everything. She knew all along that this would become one of the most wonderful parties she has ever planned.

Now she only had one more task to do to make it successful: find Jake and get him to dance with her.

She glanced over to the front door where Joe, Artie, and Sam had entered, each with a wrapped gift in their hand and in their nicest attire. Kitty grinned at them and skipped over. She knew they couldn't pass up a Christmas extravaganza, especially one of hers.

"Andy, Seth, Jeff, welcome to the Christmas extravaganza."

"It's Artie, Sam, and Joe, actually," the blonde boy spoke up. He was being waved off by the short blonde Cheerio.

"Whatever." All three boys looked at each other, confused, and then back at Kitty. "I hope you're ready to have a wonderful night of fun. This will probably make your Christmas one of the best ones of your life, if you like it to be."

Artie and Joe nodded in agreement, gazing around at the decorations the girl had set up. They thought that it was impossible for Kitty to put this all together by herself, unless she got Sugar Motta to assist with the financial part. But maybe there was something about Kitty that they didn't know before. Maybe she could be just as rich as the pompous daughter of Al Motta after all.

"You really hooked up the place, Kitty," Artie complimented, wheeling around past her to look at the holiday-themed decoration.

Kitty gushed. "It was nothing, really." She smiled at Sam and Joe, who were still at the front door eyeing the wonderful set-ups in the room.

Joe had taken one second to stop wandering down just to look at Kitty. She had a red dress on with a lot of sparkles, the bodice with a collar attached that covered her chest, a white glittery belt, and white heels. For some reason, he got attracted to her. He couldn't keep his eyes off her.

"Well," Kitty spoke up to the boys, turning towards the other direction, "I hope you guys enjoy your night. The angels from heaven are calling me. I think I should take this." And with that, she headed down the other side of the room to speak with some decorators about the Christmas tree.

Sam looked from left to right. A few more people had entered, and started greeting people and dancing to the music. Sam thought this was one of Kitty's excellent ideas. The place looked beautiful, for she put a lot of work into it, and people were enjoying it when they had just gotten there.

However, Sam didn't see Brittany yet. He had been waiting since he found his red button-up shirt and white short-sleeved shirt to see if Brittany was going to be there. Unfortunately, though, it seemed that she wasn't going to be there at all, even after a few texts to her the previous day. Sam thought the plan wasn't going to work at all.

"Sam?" he heard his best bro speak softly. "You okay?"

The blonde shrugged, looking through the oncoming crowds of people for a blonde girl with a familiar face and those long dancer legs. "I'll be fine, I guess." He felt Joe's hand come on his shoulder, his fingers gripping onto him. He knew Joe had his back, and he couldn't ask for more than that anyway.

"She'll be here, Sam," Joe replied sympathetically. "If she doesn't, you can still find another girl to lift your spirits up. Or you could hang with us still."

Sam patted the dreadlocked Christian on the back. "Thanks a lot, man." With that, he wandered around the area to find some more familiar faces. If he couldn't find Brittany, then maybe he could find some other activity to cheer him up or something.

Joe watched his best friend walk away, feeling bad for him. Brittany didn't seem to be showing up at all, if not late or anything. That would most likely mean that, with his buds or not, Sam would feel lonely and heartbroken. Joe didn't want him to be that way, especially after the way Sam was being observed by Teen Jesus. He seemed much more confident and stronger than that.

He felt a pat on his right arm from the paraplegic teen next to him. They headed on into the main room, being greeted by the song _Let It Snow_ playing in the background.

"Looks like Kitty had everything control, right?" Joe asked Artie. God, why the hell did the blonde-haired Cheerio have to come back up in the conversation?

"It sure worked out better than Rachel Berry's House Party Extravaganza," Artie agreed as he wheeled around the room with Joe. Remembering how much of a disaster the outcome of it was, he immediately warned Joe before he could interrogate the wheelchair-bound boy about it. "Don't ask; all I'm going to say is that, it was a tragedy."

Joe cocked his eyebrow for a second. Of course he wouldn't understand how a junior girl's house party would've turned out. He probably didn't want to know, having the assumption that ungodly things such as sex and drinking massive amounts of alcohol occurred. But Rachel Berry seemed like a sweet girl when he met her the first time. Would she really do that?

Well, people have hidden lives. Joe wouldn't understand until he observed them himself. However, he didn't want to be caught in it.

"Have you seen Sugar anywhere?" Artie asked, looking in another direction past a table where a bunch of jocks were conversing.

"Sugar Motta?" Joe asked, and Artie nodded. "Why do you ask?"

Artie turned to Joe, a smirk growing on his face. "I'm gonna dance with her. We had gotten back together a few months ago, remember?" Joe's eyebrows furrowed. He hadn't gotten a notice saying that Artie and Sugar were even together _before_ a couple of months ago. Joe didn't even know Sugar was into him like that. Artie tried bringing back Joe's memory. "The paint fight."

Joe's mind was still blank. He only remembered Brittany, Tina, and Jake throwing massive amounts of white paint on him, the substance getting into his dreadlocks and on his chest. It was such a fun day, though. They were supposed to be painting over some graffiti on a wall by the school for a New Directions side project, and things got carried away.

With all of the other thoughts aside, though, Joe didn't have a clue on what happened between Artie and Sugar that day. There was probably too much white paint flying around.

"Don't recall," he finally replied.

Artie shrugged, still following around the room. "It's been since last year that we were together. Relatively around Valentine's Day, and I get to go back with her today – that is, if I can find her. There's a huge crowd here, and it's only been a couple of minutes." Artie's eyes wandered again for a girl with strawberry-blonde hair and probably a ridiculous outfit that she thought looked pretty or sexy on her. He wouldn't judge her of her style and taste due to the fact that she has self-diagnosed Aspergers, but she did have understated and sometimes weird opinions.

"That sounds wonderful, Artie," Joe responded, assisting in looking around for the rich girl in the haystack of party guests. "When did you ask her?"

"Last night when I was catching up with another round of _Halo_ with my buddies, Finn and Puck. Got a couple of texts from her, and it just sort of…happened."

Joe nodded understandably, but then furrowed his eyebrows again. "_Halo_?" he asked him, and he nodded. "Is that like a war in heaven for the souls saved or something?"

Artie silently chuckled, being reminded of Joe's passion for Christ. "Boy, you need to get out more," he said. "Next thing you're gonna tell me is that, you don't know who Michael Jackson is."

Joe got even more puzzled. "I don't."

Artie deadpanned. Michael Jackson was, like, Artie's savior in the pop-music industry. He was the ultimate King of Pop, one of the most famous beings on this earth. The news about his death spread like flocks of birds in the sky, and Artie had learned that Joe didn't even know who he was? Now he really had to get him a Michael Jackson biography from the bookstore and educate him fast.

"Okay, looks like I've got more to do with you than I thought."

Joe shrugged. He was willing to find out more about anything, especially since he had been out of the homeschooling phase for almost a year now. People knew an insane number of facts and people more than he did.

"By the way," Artie said, disregarding the topic of Joe not knowing anything that didn't have to do with Jesus Christ or the Bible. "Don't you have a date? Is she here already?"

Joe shook his head unfortunately. "I'm single," he replied. "I just want to come and hang out with you guys."

"Feel sorry for you, bro," Artie said. "You could get lucky tonight – not that you should. I mean, I understand how you feel about your religion and stuff."

Joe held the cross on his neck with his left hand, showing it to Artie and nodding to his last comment.

"But you would, you know, know what it's like to kiss a girl. You know what I mean?"

"Yeah, totally. But I'd rather wait a little while. I wouldn't want to get into any trouble with God or my parents for it."

Artie rolled his eyes. "_Momma's boy, daddy's sport –_"

Joe overheard his whispering to himself. "Hey!"

"_Stays abstinent for the Lord_," Artie continued teasing the dreadlocked boy with his chant.

"It's true, though."

Artie smirked. "You're never getting laid."

At that moment, they saw an energized Sugar Motta skip over with a smile on her face. She had on her green dress with a white long-sleeved shirt underneath, and white leggings and green flats. Artie thought she looked adorable, and was glad she didn't put on something hideous like multi-colored pants and a red sweater.

"What up, Joseph Hart? Artie Abrams?" she greeted with her best hipster voice.

"Hey, Sugar," both of the boys greeted simultaneously with smiles on their faces.

The strawberry blonde girl grinned at both of them, and then turned to Artie. "I thought you weren't going to be coming, Artie. I almost got back to my Saturday night rituals: doing my nails and hair, and had my one-person-audience movie night." Artie didn't believe that Sugar would do things a lonely person would do on a Saturday night.

He grinned at her. "Well, change of plans. I came here to find you, you came to find me…" he said. "Everything worked out, right?" Sugar nodded, her grin spreading on her face.

Joe smiled at the chemistry, and decided to leave them alone. "I'm gonna go find Ryder and Tina. See you later, Artie."

"You too, buzz kill!"

Joe immediately caught that and whirled around. "Hey!"

"Sorry. It kind of slipped out." And with that, Joe headed the other direction, leaving Artie and Sugar alone. "So what shall we do now that we found each other?" Artie asked with an eager look on his face, which made Sugar smile again.

"We can drink, have a chat, and then get down on that dance floor."

Artie held his arms out with his fingers pointing at himself, for that he didn't have the use of his legs and he was pretty much _down_ like Sugar stated. "Already got a head start on you." He didn't like being in the wheelchair, but he used it as a joke to keep his mind off his own vulnerability.

Sugar giggled. "Alrighty then," she declared. "Now let's go over to that punch bowl and wet our whistles."

Artie rolled next to Sugar, following her to the punch bowl and grabbing a red solo cup that was sitting on top of the stack of cups on the table. This was a great start to Artie's night. He was out with his girlfriend, and drinking the most mouth-watering beverage of the night – God, that was good. Was there lemon in there?

"What do you plan on doing when you graduate?" the rich man's daughter asked, sipping the juice in her cup.

That question seemed unexpected for the paraplegic teen. He actually didn't know what he wanted to do. He sounded like Finn somewhere in the back of his mind when people asked him that.

"I don't know, to be honest," Artie answered, sniffing the fruit in his drink before taking another sip. Sugar nodded. "I mean, I got application letters from a couple of schools outside of Ohio, but –"

And then there was a sight Artie wasn't expecting. "Sugar Motta, Artie Abrams," a teenage boy spoke with that thick Irish accent.

Rory Flanagan. He was a foreign exchange student and had come all the way from Ireland. He lived with Brittany S. Pierce last year – and grew some type of attraction. Then after finding out about Santana, he somehow grew a crush on Sugar, right around the time Artie was crushing on her.

A part of Artie didn't like Rory as much. He hardly understood much of what he said, and he always tried to stoop to Artie's level most of the time. Even after Artie and the other guys in New Directions perform a boy-band number, Rory busts out a slow-paced ballad – and still ends up with Sugar!

What the hell was he doing here now? Artie thought his visa wasn't extended, and that he was to be sent back to his hometown. Why the hell was he here with that flirtatious smile, trying to impress Sugar with his charm?

Sugar's eyes bugged out of her head. "Rory! You came back!" She brought her arms up to him and hugged him as tightly as she could. The Irish boy brought his arms around her and gave her a sweet hug, his eyes closing shut and cherishing Sugar's greeting. He was glad to be back in America.

Artie wasn't, unfortunately. _Here we go again…_

* * *

**Author's Note**: Yes, I brought Rory back. Poor Artie. I'm so conflicted between Sugary and Sugartie; I can't just choose one. And I also put in the Artie/Joe bromance. There needs to be more friendships on the show. I like the relationships, but come on…

What do you think will happen next? Stay tuned and find out.


	6. Kitty, Jake, Marley, and Ryder

The party had lasted for only twenty minutes, and a number of people had arrived to enjoy the night. Kitty, however, wasn't going to enjoy it yet until she got her chance to find Jake and see if he'll dance with her. She would do anything. She would give up anything for it. She would wait in her seat, even if it took at least another hour.

At that moment, she assumed that she saw someone familiar walk to the door, getting ready to enter; so she ran over to see who it was. Too bad it wasn't who she was expecting.

"Oh," she said flatly. "Name, please?"

"Rachel Barbra Berry and Kurt Hummel," the brunette girl told the blonde Cheerio. "We were invited by Tina Cohen-Chang. Is she here?"

Kitty's eyes wandered around behind her. She didn't see anyone at first – and didn't know why she was stalling so much anyway. Once she saw the black-haired Asian by one of the tall glass windows, she pointed Rachel and Kurt into her direction. "She's over there." Before they left her alone, Kitty added, "and enjoy your night."

"Of course," Kurt spoke up before following Rachel over to Tina.

Kitty could almost vomit at the sight of him. He had a red blazer with green pants, a green button-up shirt, and a red tie, looking like a tall, flamboyant elf. Kitty could remember the first time she encountered him in Sue Sylvester's office in the beginning of the school year. Not only he wasn't as of a successful overachiever he should be, but his fashion sense was worse than what Kitty has seen on a gay man.

Rolling her eyes and turning away from him, Kitty kept searching for Jake impatiently. Was he not coming or something? Did he plan on sitting out because of what Kitty said the other day? Why would Jake not want anything to do with Kitty anyway? She could offer more than anything Marley had. Hell, all Marley had was her overweight mother and a bunch of homemade clothes. Kitty could get the boy on the top of the food chain.

And speaking of the food chain –

"Hey, Kitty." Coming through the entrance was Marley Rose, Kitty's number one enemy.

The blonde girl deadpanned at her for a minute, and then grew a smile at her. "Hey there, Rose. Glad you made it." Her enthusiasm didn't really show it.

At least Marley came with a more decent appearance: a maroon dress with spaghetti straps and sparkles, her hair in a bun, mango lip gloss on her thin lips, and black wedges. Actually, Kitty preferred this over anything Marley wore. She looked beautiful to her, for once.

Marley noticed that Kitty was still looking at her dress, and pulled out a present wrapped in blue wrapping paper and with a silver bow on the top. "I…I brought my present for the grab-bag. Where can I put it?"

The Cheerio turned behind her, gazing in the direction where the big Christmas tree was. In the same area, Joe was conversing with Ryder and Tina. The only thing that stood out in her mind was trying to get Marley and Ryder together so neither one of them interfered with Kitty's plan to get Jake's arms around her. It was the only plan she had for now. "Under the tree," she finally responded.

Marley glanced over to the tree and noticed the familiar blonde, Ryder Lynn. He looked really nice if she could say so herself. He had the same hairstyle, a black sweater with a red shirt underneath, and some khakis. That charming smile spread across his face. Marley blushed a little bit, which was a good sign in Kitty's case.

"Alright then," Marley told the shorter girl. "I…I'll see you later then, I guess." She felt so awkward talking to Kitty when she wasn't in school with her.

As Marley walked away, Kitty looked back at her with a smile on her face, waving her fingers at her. "Toodles, Mary Sue." On the inside, Kitty knew that her plan was going to work out after all. Marley's gone over to Ryder, and it would give her a chance to find Jake and get a dance with her.

That is, if Jake doesn't find Marley himself. That would just ruin the flow of things for Kitty's night.

* * *

About an hour had passed for the night, and everything went along smoothly. Everyone was eating, dancing, conversing, and partying all night. Kitty thought things were going okay so far.

Except for the fact that she didn't see Jake yet.

Maybe he really did decide to not go. Kitty felt that her plan was backfired before it even started. She had given him a freakin' invitation for him to be a part of the night of magic, and he plans on not attending? Who would do that to a poor, desperate Cheerio? On the flip side, though. Kitty got Ryder and Marley together. Maybe Marley wasn't even thinking about him, which could be a good thing.

And that's when the tension on the girl's athletic shoulders finally wore off. "Hey, Kitty!" a familiar voice greeted her.

"Mr. Puckerman," Kitty greeted politely, watching Jake enter the room. He had a black blazer with a red shirt and black jeans. It wasn't the most formal attire he had, but he still came for the party. Step one of Kitty's plan turned out to be a success. Now, according to Kitty's plan, the mission shall continue. "I thought you were gonna travel or something with your brother."

Jake's eyebrows furrowed. "He didn't even contact me lately." The last time he did that was when it was around Thanksgiving before New Directions lost Sectionals. He was only there to mentor him, though. Jake didn't understand how Kitty would bring up anyway.

The short blonde shrugged. "Oh well," she replied with a shameless smile on her face. She grabbed Jake's hand and brought him further in the room as the tune to Miley Cyrus's version of _Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree_ started playing. "Come on, let's dance."

Jake smiled at Kitty's enthusiasm, although he was pretty mad about what she said to Marley. Actually, he wanted to find Marley and see if she wanted to dance. He couldn't escape Kitty, though. If she ever got upset because of him rejecting her, she would throw the biggest rampage. He felt sorry for that one girl in the hallway that got shoved because Kitty was mad about their break-up.

Jake went along with dancing with her anyway. He didn't want drama tonight. He just wanted to get loose and have fun.

As he got on the dance floor with Kitty and the other partygoers, he noticed Tina and Brittany on the stage holding microphones and singing their hearts out. They both waved at him when he noticed them, and went at it with the lyrics.

_**Tina  
**__Rockin' around the Christmas tree  
__At the Christmas party hop  
__Mistletoe hung where you can see  
__Every couple tries to stop_

_**Brittany  
**__Rockin' around the Christmas tree  
__Let the Christmas spirit ring  
__Later we'll have some pumpkin pie  
__And we'll do some caroling_

_**Tina and Brittany  
**__You will get a sentimental feeling  
__When you hear (__**Brittany**__: When you hear)  
__Voices singing "Let's be jolly,  
__Deck the halls with boughs of holly!"_

Everyone was having a great time now. Some of the party guests were fist pumping in the audience during the dance break in the song, and some were dancing with their significant other. Kitty and Jake were gazing in each other's eyes, with Kitty's arms around Jake's neck, and Jake's hands on Kitty's neck. Kitty felt like a lucky girl now. Everything was coming to how she liked it.

Well, all except for one thing.

Kitty took a moment to look past Jake's arm, and she spotted Marley and Ryder dancing with each other almost ten steps away. She could've sworn she saw Ryder look over at them, and Kitty quickly hid her head.

Kitty didn't want them too close to her and Jake. She didn't want Jake to turn around and see them dancing, having the urge to walk over and speak with them. It would ruin everything. Kitty had just gotten on the dance floor with Jake to dance with him minutes after he arrived, and things were almost about to be ruined. She had to get Jake away fast.

_**Tina  
**__Rockin' around the Christmas tree  
__Have a happy holiday_

Jake noticed Kitty tried to pull him over to another direction, and got very bewildered. "Kitty, what are you doing?" he called over the loud music and Tina and Brittany's singing.

Kitty didn't have much of an excuse. God, why did things have to be rushed like this? "Um, I wanted to find Sam for you –"

"What do I need Sam for?" Jake asked in even more confusion.

_**Tina  
**__Everyone dancin' merrily  
__In the new old-fashioned way_

Kitty really wished Jake would cooperate with her. In a matter of seconds, people were going to notice that she was trying to play tug-of-war with the biracial sophomore, and then Marley and Ryder would catch their attention. Kitty had to get him away from that area before –

"Jake!" Kitty gritted her teeth at the sound of Marley's voice approaching. And just when Kitty was about to get things under control, here comes Marley with her observant ass. How the hell was she going to get Jake away now?

_**Brittany  
**__Rockin' around the Christmas tree  
__Let the Christmas spirit ring  
__Later we'll have some pumpkin pie  
__And we'll do some caroling_

Marley had finally made it over to Jake, greeting him with a smile on her face. Kitty, however, was getting disappointed. How the hell did Marley even notice that was Jake anyway? There were other half-white, half-black people in this crowd. Why was she over here to ruin Kitty's night.

"Marley? Ryder?" the boy asked both the brunette girl and the blonde boy. "When did you guys get here?"

"I was looking for you earlier, actually," Marley called to him over the loud music. That made Ryder grow a puzzled look on his face.

"I thought you were going with Ryder."

"No, I was trying to find _you_."

Ryder scratched his head in much confusion, looking Jake in the eye. "Wait a minute, Marley didn't want to go with me?"

Shit was going to get real in a minute, and Kitty didn't have a way out. If she had thought about being more observant with Marley earlier, then it wouldn't lead to this. And Ryder's just now finding out that he and Marley were a fake all along.

Kitty, panicking, took Jake's arm again, trying to pull him away. "Okay, let's go find the food table. I know you're hungry, Jake, so –"

Jake pulled away from her, heat growing in his forehead as he looked down at the blonde, bitchy Cheerio. "Kitty, did you try to set us up? This was you, wasn't it?"

_**Tina and Brittany  
**__You will get a sentimental feeling  
__When you hear (__**Brittany**__: When you hear)  
__Voices singing, "Let's be jolly,  
__Deck the halls with boughs of holly!"_

"Jake, don't start!" Kitty called over the music. "This isn't the right place to do this, okay?"

"No, it's not okay," Ryder spoke up, furiously looking at the blonde girl. "You set me up all this time, and I was the last to know. You're just jealous of Marley because Jake has a crush on her instead of you."

"Who asked you to step into this conversation?"

"Me, that's who!"

"Kitty, I'm disappointed of you," Jake said, and he started to walk the other direction away from the Cheerio.

However, she wasn't going to let Jake walk away again. She's been rejected too many times, and she wasn't going to let that happen again. She took Jake's arm again, pulling him closer to her and using all of her strength. "No, you're not walking off on me again!"

"Kitty, let me go!" Jake yelled.

_**Tina  
**__Rockin' around the Christmas tree  
__Have a happy holiday_

_**Brittany  
**__Everyone dancin' merrily_

_**Tina and Brittany  
**__In the new old-fashioned way!_

Before she knew it, Kitty was close to getting into a physical fight with the guy that was supposed to be her date to her own party. Why did it have to lead to this? Why can everyone stay in their own areas and leave each other be? Now Kitty was trying to win Jake back, but it didn't seem to help.

Then Marley got into it. She pulled Kitty away, assisting with Jake so things wouldn't get any worse. Kitty didn't want Marley's hands on her. She shoved her elbow into Marley's chest aggressively, making her step back a notch. Her chest was sore, but that didn't stop her from going at Kitty and attempting to kick her ass.

Marley grabbed Kitty's arm with rage, ignoring the fact that Kitty had slapped her across the face. Kitty dug her nails into Marley's bear arms and tried pushing her down to the ground. Jake tried pulling Marley away, but she and Kitty still continued with their argument, attracting partygoers around them. Sugar, on Rory's back from a few people behind, took her phone out and filmed everything.

Out of nowhere, Sam had came over to help out and pull Kitty away from Marley. Lucky for him, his arms were strong enough, and he was able to get Kitty at least five steps away.

"You bitch!" Kitty called to the brunette, still in such rage and wanted to rip out Marley's brunette hair.

"Let's go, Kitty," Sam told her calmly, taking her out into the hallway. Jake had followed him from a distance, making sure Kitty didn't notice him.

_God, what the hell?_ Jake half didn't expect that at all. Then again, he half did expect it.

* * *

**Author's Note**: Whoops, shit just got real. And people wouldn't expect Marley to get into a fight like that. Well, that would be a plot twist in my version of Glee, I guess.

**Featured Song**:  
"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" by Miley Cyrus (originally by Brenda Lee). Sung by Tina and Brittany


	7. Kitty, Jake, Sam, and Brittany

"Get your goddamn hands off of me!"

Kitty's night, in her eyes, had completely failed. With the exception of the music, food, and decorations, it was basically a shit fest for her. She was so heated up that she wanted to run out in the cold snow and burn it all until it was summer in December or something.

Sam had her by the arms, pushing her into the hallway away from the crowds of people. "Kitty, calm down," he told her. Maybe this wasn't as easy as he expected.

"How the hell can I calm down when Marley and Ryder tried to fuck things up? I need to get back out there, find Marley, and beat the living shit out of –"

She felt Sam shove her over to the bench in the hallway where she fell into the comfy seat. It was a nice place to rest, but it wasn't going to make anything better. "Listen to yourself," Sam yelled at the short blonde girl. "You're getting mad over the most pettiest things. You're supposed to be better than that. You invited them to your own party –"

"But Jake is the only one I care about," Kitty argued. "Haven't you ever thought about that instead of getting your head stuck in your ass?"

Sam's eyes almost bugged out of his head in frustration. Man, Kitty was a tough cookie to work with, wasn't she?

"Sam," the blonde boy heard Jake from a couple of steps away. He put his hand on Sam's shoulder, getting his attention. "I got this, alright? You go on back." And with that, Sam went back to the party, leaving Kitty and Jake to talk. Jake turned back to Kitty with the most furious look on his face. "I can't believe you. You only wanted this night to be a wonderful night for yourself. You didn't give a damn about everyone else."

"I give a damn about you, Jake," Kitty barked. "I have a crush on you. I just want you to know that and have the same feelings for me. No one cares for me as much as you do. Why would you say that –"

"You upset Marley, Kitty, with your words and actions. You and your friends kept on calling her mother fat, and then you turned the poor girl bulimic. Don't you think that's serious at all?"

"Don't you realize what she –"

"She didn't do anything to you. She's almost helpless. And you're just making it worse."

Kitty just wanted to have everything right for her in the world. And all of this teasing Marley shit started because she had eyes for the guy that Kitty literally fell in love with. Weren't people supposed to fight for the people that they love, like the message of some songs say? People fight for love, and Kitty was confident that fighting for it was what she was trying to attempt. She loved the hell out of Jake, no regrets.

Jake, however, didn't love Kitty. He especially didn't love the hell she put Marley through. Marley was the first-ever girl Jake had feelings for, and Kitty was just getting in the way of that. It was the same two-girls-and-a-guy stereotype going around in books, movies, and TV shows that Jake has seen, and he didn't want to be caught in the middle of that. Why couldn't Kitty understand.

He watched as Kitty gaped, trying to find a way to reach out to him. "B-But Jake, you –"

"I'm sorry, Kitty," he interrupted, "but I can't be with you anymore."

Kitty didn't want things to end up this way. This was supposed to turn out to be a wonderful night full of joy and Christmas spirit, and it was being ruined by a fight between her and Marley. Why won't things go Kitty's way? It's like one minute, she has things under control. Then the next minute, somebody has to step in and change it around.

She's been attempting to win Jake back so many times, and she was now certain that he wasn't going to be hers. Kitty felt like giving up. Maybe there was no hope in her and Jake anyway.

She sat there on that bench and watched as Jake walked out of the hallway and back to the party. People inside were probably gossiping about the fight between McKinley's head Cheerio bitch and the lunch lady's daughter. How could they not? Both Kitty and Marley's night was pretty much fucked up. People talking back and forth about it wasn't going to do much.

Kitty felt her eyes water. Some girls walking past from the party to the girls' bathroom had noticed her. She thought this all was too embarrassing. She was fucking embarrassed. She made a fool of herself. She made a fool of Jake and Ryder. This plan didn't work at all. Kitty wasn't the kind of person that would commit suicide, but she would if she could.

The tear that had been held in her eye freely fell down her face. Was anyone going to love her anymore after this? She wasn't sure, but she had much doubt in the back of her mind.

_Damn it all._

* * *

Sam was alone in a crowd full of people, talking with a bunch of random party guests about what just happened with Kitty when he pulled her out in the hallway. People had some sort of stupid speculation that Sam got punched in the face by her, or cursed out aggressively. Sam didn't know where all of these stories came from, but he thought people were just hilarious for them.

With all of the drama aside, everything went a little calm for Sam so far. He got a chance to meet up with Tina earlier and have a little chat, visit Artie, Sugar, and Rory along the way – and encounter the beautiful voice of one Brittany S. Pierce.

The weird thing was that Sam wasn't into Miley Cyrus as much as he used to twenty minutes ago. Brittany and Tina must've done something to that song to bring it back to him in ways that sent chills down his back.

Sam had to make his move before the night before the party was over. He had to find Brittany and confess himself to her. This wasn't the right time for it in particular, but time was wasting, and he felt he had no other choice.

He found her sitting at a table by herself, enjoying a vanilla cupcake with white frosting and red and green sprinkles on them. He watched as the tall blonde licked the white substance off her fingers. For some reason, he found that sexy when a girl did that. He had such a dirty mind at times. Oh God, was his boner about to activate again?

He wiped his forehead of sweat with a napkin that he had kept in his pocket and took a deep breath. He shouldn't be nervous, really. He had been around Brittany before. The last time he could remember was when the graduates were singing for them in the choir room. Brittany seemed pretty upset to see Santana go. Sam couldn't blame her. Brittany has to stay at McKinley for another year because of her grades. Someone could've helped her at least. Sam wished he had that chance.

Oh well. Sam heard that Brittany was getting tutoring help from some teachers she had. That took care of one thing Brittany worried about.

Sam walked over to her and took a seat in the empty chair right next to her. It wasn't so hard just to walk up to her and take a seat beside her. That was pretty much the easy part. "So…" he started the conversation, which made Brittany turn her head towards him. Her eyes glittered, and he almost lost his focus. "Crazy back there, right?" Now this sounded like some kind of stupid ass elevator conversation.

Brittany didn't seem to mind, though. "Who was fighting?"

Sam sighed, thinking about the short bitchy Cheerios captain. "Kitty Wilde and Marley Rose," he answered, which made Brittany gasp.

"Are they alright?"

"I think Marley is, but Kitty is pretty pissed off. I almost couldn't control her for a minute." Brittany nodded understandably. "It was really intense. It had something to do with having a crush on Jake or something, and Marley –"

"The cocoa guy?"

Sam rolled his eyes. Brittany meant well, but did she really have to be racist towards him? He could remember when she and a couple of jocks made fun of Marley's mother in the beginning of the school year. He knew Marley was pretty let down about that. It made Sam feel sorry for her, actually.

"Jake Puckerman, Brittany," Sam told her so he could be sure she got the name right. If Jake were here to hear Brittany call him the cocoa guy, he would most likely be offended by it. Who wouldn't?

"I understand, though," Brittany replied. "About Marley and Kitty, I mean. There's always that one hot guy everyone wants to be with, and they won't stop until they've got them in their grasp. Think of that crazy fanatic lady who claimed to have a baby with Justin Bieber."

Sam smirked at Brittany's scenario. He wondered if that lady got held back by a couple of people after getting into a fight with the person saying that the baby wasn't Justin's. That's one lady he definitely didn't want to hold down.

He thought back to what Brittany said about people not stopping until they can get the person that they want. Sam didn't want to stop, either. He already lost girlfriends who were delights in his life: the practical queen of the Cheerios, Quinn Fabray, and the practical queen of the divas, Mercedes Jones. Too bad Quinn had moved on to another guy, and Mercedes was off in California pursuing her dreams. She didn't want to pester with either one of them.

He had his eyes laid on the blonde before him. She was another delight in Sam's life. She was the practical queen of the dancing queens. She had eyes that were as shiny as diamonds. She had the humor of the kings of comedy. She had the smile of a 100-watt light bulb. She had everything Quinn and Mercedes had.

Sam couldn't resist anymore. He had to go ahead and get this over with.

Brittany noticed him gazing at him, and grew a little uncomfortable. "Sam, are you okay?"

Sam heard himself stutter. He didn't have a back-up plan or anything. Brittany was waiting on an answer to her question, and Sam was as nervous as hell to say anything back. He couldn't come up with a good distraction or anything. What the hell was he to do?

He looked back at her, staring into her soul. This was his last Christmas as a McKinley student. He might as well go ahead and do this.

He leaned forward and kissed the blonde girl on the lips. He could give two shits less about the white frosting on her lips; he just wanted to kiss her at that moment. He could smell the frosting and the cherry gloss on her lips, and it sent shivers through his spine and veins. Of course, he was stiffening up in between his legs. He didn't care; he had Brittany by the lips, and he was enjoying it.

At least, until she tried pulling away.

"Sam, what was that for?" she asked, wiping his long-lasting kiss off her lips. He grew red and shameful. He had probably embarrassed himself in front of some more people he knew. He wasn't sure if anyone was watching. If they were, they would most likely be gossiping about him and Brittany behind their backs by now.

Sam wanted to hide somewhere. He had unexpectedly kissed Brittany out of nowhere, and she sounded like she doubted it. Maybe it wasn't so much of a good idea to get with her after all.

He looked up at her with those puppy dog eyes on his face. Brittany was concerned as to why he actually attempted that. She thought Sam meant well like he did with her. But that was just at an unexpected moment for her. While she liked the taste of Sam's thick, chaste lips, she wanted a reason behind it all.

"Brittany," Sam finally spoke up, his nerves getting the best of him, "I…I have a crush on you."

Brittany gaped at his statement, almost not believing it. "H-How can you –"

"I have a major crush on you, Brittany. It's my last year at McKinley. The same for you – it should be. And I want it to be special. And you're one of the people in my live that's special. It's like – like – like I can't have us separated, the same with everyone else."

Brittany was speechless. She was honored to hear those type of words come out of Sam's mouth. Had he been hiding all of those feelings the whole time? Maybe he actually loved her like he meant.

There was one problem, though.

"I'm…I'm so sorry, Sam," she told the blonde boy, which made his head sink. "I'm so glad you think that way. In fact, I never want to leave you or anyone else in the Glee club, either. It's just that – well, I'm still in love with someone else, and…well, it's pretty complicated."

All Brittany could think of after that was her former girlfriend back in Kentucky. She was probably being lifted in the air by some other Louisville cheerleaders, cheering Brittany's name in the back of her mind from almost miles away or something. Brittany missed her. She wanted back in her arms and to hold onto her so she won't let go and leave.

Then again, she did feel bad for Sam. He was alone since he and Mercedes weren't together due to Mercedes and her record deal. He never really brought it up to anyone because his depression would just get to him, and that would make him miss his dark chocolate princess even more.

Brittany placed a hand on Sam's shoulder as she watched him nod understandably. "Please don't be upset," she pleaded.

"No," Sam responded. "It's alright, Brittany."

"Santana is still in my heart, trying to find the center of it and retrieve the key to get in," Brittany explained wholeheartedly. "She's still one of the most special people in my life. We and Quinn made up the Unholy Trinity together. We started together, and ended together. That's the way it should be, right?"

"Of course," Sam said, nodding his head.

"We were best friends since we were freshmen. I wasn't as comfortable being in McKinley as she was. She was literally the boss in charge, second in line of Quinn. She protected me when people said something mean about me. We made promises, and we never broke them. One time, Santana and I made a promise to never betray each other by hooking up with another person." Brittany paused for a moment, thinking about that lesbian girl Santana told her about the day they broke up. "Actually, she almost broke that promise."

Sam nodded again. "I know your love for Santana is something special, Brittany." The Cheerio nodded. "I shouldn't have gotten in the way. I guess I got a little into my head, supposedly."

"It's not your fault, Sam. In fact, other than Quinn and Santana, you're my best friend. At least that's something we can have together, right? Well, other than blonde heads, that is."

Sam couldn't believe how smart Brittany was. Actually, she could be smart whenever she wanted to be. She did have a point, though. They could still be friends, and not lead into some big relationship or whatever. The two of them just sitting there talking was good enough for Sam.

"Thank you, Britt."

Brittany smiled. "Not a problem, Trouty Mouth," she replied with that nickname Santana proved in junior year. Brittany brought her arms around Sam and gave him a sweet hug. She knew he was understanding and helpful enough. He didn't have to be anything more than that.

Sam, watching Brittany rest her head on his shoulder, smirked. "_And this ship has sailed_," he spoke in his best British accent, which made the girl laugh.

Yeah, he was confident that they'd be alright.

* * *

**Author's Note**: Well, there's the little Bram moment. Maybe not a couple, but they're best friends. I know, Brittana fans. You wish Bram stayed at the same level they were in Britney 2.0 and Makeover. I understand. As of Kitty…wow, that was a powerful moment for her, wasn't it?

Stay tuned for more, and thanks for reading.


	8. Rachel, Kurt, Brody, and Blaine

Rachel and Kurt were sitting at a table together, enjoying some of the food provided for them. They had witnessed a commotion on one side of the room, and the hype about it just won't stop. People were on their phones, tweeting to people that weren't at the party or sharing videos of what they got from the circle in the middle of the mob.

The two New York divas didn't get into nonsense like that, at least not anymore. They used to see fights break out when they were freshmen and moving on up. Sending rumors around it was just as childish as getting into it. So they were better off sitting near the edge or something so people won't start making a fuss about it to them or anything like that.

"Well, that was…a really moving night. Wasn't it, Rach?" the porcelain boy asked, drinking his punch and looking around at everyone, lost.

Rachel shook her head at the sight of things. At least it was clearing up just a bit, and everyone was returning to having a good time amongst themselves. "Do you remember when I showed you those photos of the Winter Ball back in sophomore year, and two girls on the volleyball team were going at it about a former hockey jock?"

Kurt couldn't hold back his smirk. He remembered a girl with strawberry blonde hair getting her hair pulled and her face slapped with a snowflake decoration. "There were sure wild moments when we were in high school, Rachel."

"Excellent, Kurt. You just made it sound like we're getting old – our thirties, even."

"Get real. We're done with high school anyway. We're not old, though. We're living while we're young." Kurt could remember someone giving him the video of the Warblers performing _Live While We're Young_ at Sectionals through his phone. While he cursed out Sebastian and One Direction in the back of his head, they actually did sound amazing.

Rachel giggled and took another bite of the gingerbread cookie that lay on her plate. They didn't taste as good as the cookies Kurt made back in New York, but they were still good. She was actually having a great time with Kurt, and she thought the two weren't going to have much to do at all. Other than the commotion, this was the best Christmas festivity ever.

And then, there was a sight that caught Rachel and Kurt's eyes. "Oh, my God," Kurt gasped.

Out of nowhere, they see two guys with red, white, and black, dressing like Santa Claus. One of them was a tall brunette with a buzz cut, muscular arms, and a charming smile. He gazed at Rachel for the most part, and his eyes glittered in the light. The guy next to him was shorter with black hair covered in hair gel, dark eyes, and a bittersweet smile on his face. He had his eyes set on Kurt, who was surprised and relieved at the same time to see him.

"Rachel."

"Kurt."

Both of the New York divas were almost speechless.

"B-Brody?"

"Blaine?"

Neither Kurt nor Rachel would expect either one of them to come to a high school party dressed as Santa Claus just to find them sitting at a table by themselves. They looked pretty handsome, if they could say so themselves.

Brody took the empty seat beside Rachel and held her hand. "I knew if I followed Blaine here, I would find you."

Rachel's eyes bugged out of her head. She turned to Kurt for clarification, but he had no idea on what was going on. Blaine, of course, kept his mouth shut but with a smirk on his face. What the hell was Brody talking about? Why would he follow Blaine? How did he even know Blaine existed? "Wait, what do you mean?"

"Simple. I came to your apartment to see if you were home. I figured we could go to the movies or downtown New York and gaze at city lights, find hot-spot attractions, get a couple of drinks –"

"The point, Brody?" While she loved listened to all of the possible plans Brody had for the night, Rachel would still like to know how this all came to be and all.

"I ran into this young soul in the hallway," Brody explained, pointing to Blaine behind him. "He said something about looking for Kurt and asking him to come for the party that you guys somehow wound up to." At that comment, Kurt and Blaine looked at each other. Blaine had a proud smile on his face just to see his former boyfriend. "And we found the note on the door that you guys wrote about you coming here. That's how I knew you had gone with him, Rachel."

Rachel smiled sweetly at him, resting her chin on her hand. "So you _did_ find my note?" the brunette girl asked.

"Of course," Brody replied. "Then we came up with this crazy idea to surprise you. And…well, we're here."

"Dressed as your Santa," Blaine added, giving that ta-da pose to Kurt and Rachel. "What may you, sir and madam, may request for this Christmas?"

Kurt craned his head around his former boyfriend, looking towards the door to find the party hostess. She was most likely still in the hallway trying to recover from that whole fight that broke out moments before. "Um, how did you manage to get in here without getting arrested for identity theft? The hostess was judging me by her eyes, I could tell."

Rachel, Blaine, and Brody laughed at Kurt's comments, though he sounded kind of serious. Usually it was Kurt's outfits that looked ridiculous. But Rachel's boyfriend and his former boyfriend coming in dressing as Santa was a different story.

"We have another surprise for you guys," Blaine announced, "but…well, we kind of need you guys to help out with it. Are you willing to join us?"

Kurt and Rachel looked at each other, perplexed. What did they need them for? Couldn't they just show them the surprise they have?

Before either one could answer, Brody took Rachel's hand and she stepped up out of her seat. He was such a gentleman – a very sweet man, if Rachel could say so herself. Blaine took Kurt's hand as well, getting him out of his seat to follow him, Brody, and Rachel through the crowds of people.

Rachel looked around at the people gazing at them with disgusted looks. She assumed that they didn't like Kurt, Blaine, and Brody's attire. A part of her told her that she couldn't blame them; Rachel being in between an elf and two Santa Clauses seemed a little too awkward. On the other hand, though, they had their own ways of thinking and dressing. The boys could give a crap less.

And that's when they got closer to the side of the stage when Kurt and Rachel felt like backing out.

"Are you kidding me?" Kurt asked Blaine, and he gestured towards the outfit he had on, speaking with a more hushed voice. "We look like the freakin' Teletubbies! How do you expect us to perform like this on stage in front of a bunch of high schoolers?"

"Are you kidding me, Kurt?" Blaine asked with his arms folded, looking at him. "You look fine, I promise."

"This is my sophomore year all over again," Kurt said. "It's not fine."

Rachel shrugged, looking at Brody and Blaine and back at Kurt. "Actually…I could suit this." Kurt couldn't believe what he was hearing out of Rachel. At least she didn't have to worry about looking like a ridiculous Christmas creature at a sophomore's Christmas party. Kurt felt so awkward. How in the hell was he going to pull it off? "Actually, I think I have an idea on what you guys want to sing."

Brody and Blaine smirked at each other and then at Kurt. He still wasn't sure if he should be going up and doing this. It was already embarrassing to be judged by the hostess with the most-ess. Now he and his friends were to go up on that stage and perform for a bunch of McKinley students. His heart was beating out of his shirt.

There wasn't much he could do about it. Rachel and Blaine were pulling him up on the stage anyway, which was set up like Santa's Workshop or something with the big comfy chairs. A table with a long sheet of paper and a pen sat there, and a Christmas bell was sitting on the edge.

Kurt pretty much knew what the other three were thinking, too.

The music started playing, and Blaine had already rushed to the table to retrieve the bell and ring it. Kurt rolled his eyes at his playfulness.

_**Blaine  
**__Sleigh bells ring  
__Are you listening  
__In the lane  
__Snow is glistening_

Kurt couldn't resist it, though. Blaine was actually singing to him, which everyone could see, and Brody and Rachel had just left him at the edge of the stage. Rachel, pretending to be one of Santa's lucky customers, knelt down on the stage floor with a piece of paper from the table, pretending to write a Christmas list. Brody had sat in one of the big chairs, resting his back and looking at everyone with a charming smile.

Kurt smirked. He couldn't stay mad at Blaine for that much longer. It was Christmas, and he might as well go along with it. He strode over as he sung the next few lyrics.

_**Kurt  
**__A beautiful sight,  
__We're happy tonight  
__Walking in a winter wonderland_

_**Brody  
**__Gone away  
__Is the bluebird  
__Here to stay  
__Is the new bird_

_**Rachel  
**__Who sings a love song  
__As we go along  
__Walking in a winter wonderland_

Rachel had gotten up from her seat and skipped over to Brody with the sheet of paper in her hands. Brody allowed the brunette girl to sit on her lap as he gazed at her dreamily, holding her in his lap with his hand on her waist.

Rachel welcomed it willingly. She's had a rough year, especially with breaking up with Finn and all. They had the best of times, though. They performed in competitions together, ate out at dinner, had their first time, worked towards achieving their goals, and helped each other along the way. They had a lot of rough patches, but they got through those, too.

Now that they broke up, though, Rachel was pretty much alone, although she had Brody. She was getting her dancing lessons at NYADA from a very strict dance instructor, but she didn't mind getting boosted up. She needed it anyway, if she wanted to be a big star on Broadway. She also didn't mind having Brody as company. He was the sweetest guy she's met in New York, and he was really encouraging.

She thought she would do well in New York after all.

_**Kurt and Blaine  
**__In the meadow  
__We can build a snowman  
__And pretend that  
__He is Parson Brown_

_**Brody and Rachel  
**__He'll say "Are you married"  
__We'll say "No, man"  
__But you can do the job  
__When you're in town_

_**Kurt and Blaine  
**__Later on, we'll conspire_

_**Brody and Rachel  
**__As we dream by the fire_

_**Kurt, Rachel, Blaine, and Brody  
**__To face the unafraid  
__The plans that we made  
__Walking in a winter wonderland_

Rachel and Kurt didn't seem that bashful about dancing anymore. In fact, they were having a good time dancing around the stage and stuff with Brody and Blaine. They felt like they were performing onstage or in the choir room with the other members of New Directions, and it wiped away all of their nerves, pretty much.

_**Blaine and Kurt  
**__Sleigh bells ring  
__Are you listening  
__In the lane  
__Snow is glistening_

_**Brody and Rachel  
**__A beautiful sight  
__We're happy tonight  
__Walking in a winter wonderland_

_**Rachel, Brody, Kurt, and Blaine  
**__Walking in the winter  
__Walking in the winter  
__Walking in the winter wonderland_

They all ended with a pose, doing jazz hands in front of the audience. Some of them could easily recognize Rachel, Kurt, and Blaine, especially some New Directions members in the audience. They all clapped and smiled at them as the performers gave their bows to them. Rachel and Kurt actually had fun singing, and wanted to do it again. But knowing McKinley students, though, they wouldn't want to be exhausted with the same voices.

Rachel and Kurt followed Brody and Blaine off the stage, still speechless by the excitement and applause they received. Kurt thought he wouldn't pull it off, especially with the costume. Turns out the tables turned for him.

Rachel watched Kurt from where she was standing. He and Blaine were having a discussion about something, which made her smile sweetly. Kurt was pretty mad about Blaine did to him before they broke up. Rachel hoped they would work things out. It was the holidays after all, and she couldn't help but think that they'd have more amazing moments together.

"Rachel?" she heard Brody's voice from a couple of steps away. He had pulled her a little close to him under a mistletoe that hung over a long, red string on the ceiling. Rachel was surprised that they were able to hang that thing. "What do you say? May I?" Brody asked politely.

This was all coming along so fast. Brody had only come for about fifteen minutes, and he already wants a kiss with her? Rachel was caught by surprise, but actually thought about it. The last time he kissed him was when she had to do her Winter Showcase. That was a good evening, especially the fact that she won.

Maybe she can have another wonderful evening.

She just smiled at him with her signature smile and her shining teeth, closing in on him, and giving him a sweet, passionate kiss. This all felt right. The Christmas spirit was definitely in the air for her.

* * *

**Author's Note**: Yep, I added a Brochel kiss. I ship them, okay? Finchel fans, I'm sorry. But this is the only Rachel ship, other Broadberry (Broadway and Berry) and Berrydependence (Berry and independence) that I'll go for.

I'll add two more chapters, and then I'll be done. And Merry Christmas again!

**Featured Song**:  
"Winter Wonderland" by Amy Grant. Sung by Blaine, Kurt, Brody, and Rachel


	9. Kitty and Joe

Kitty felt like sitting out in the hallway all night. She felt like ending this whole party and sending everyone home. She felt like laying home and crying out this whole experience away. But what would be the point anyway? That would just make her pettier than Sam described her, and even worse – a crybaby.

But she really was feeling disappointed about how this night turned out. She really wished she could get a time machine and make everything right again. Then she would be able to get the Christmas wish Santa, her parents, or anyone else wouldn't be able to get her: a relationship with Jake Puckerman.

Unfortunately, he was in love with Marley. Kitty still didn't understand why, but she really wished she didn't have to hear the final verdict being told to her so many times.

And that's when an unexpected person came out to speak with her.

"Kitty, are you okay?"

Kitty turned to her left and spotted a cautious and worried Joe Hart standing three steps away. What did he want anyway? Kitty assumed that he was going to say the same thing Sam told her. Or even Jake, to make it worse.

"Why should you even care?" the bitchy blonde asked, her nose a little bit stuffed up.

"I was getting worried for you," Joe explained calmly. "You didn't come back inside after your breakdown, and –"

"You really should watch where you dig your nose in, Jar-Jar Binks."

Joe's eyebrows furrowed. He remembered being called that by Sue Sylvester at prom last year; since then, he hasn't bothered to look up who or what that even was. So he just told Kitty, "I'm Joe, Kitty."

"Same thing," Kitty replied, waving her hand off and resting her chin back on her hand. She had no idea on what Joe was trying to do, but it obviously wasn't going to help anything.

Joe looked down at her. She didn't look as good as she did when he first saw her. In fact, she didn't look good at all. Her hair was messed up at the top just a little, and her face was ultimately wet from the many tears that had fallen from her face. She must've been crying a lot, from what Joe had observed.

This was supposed to be her Christmas extravaganza – at least, that's what she kept telling people – and she was supposed to be happy and proud of it. It was turning out to be a huge success. The music played, the food was enjoyed by everyone, the decorations and presents had everyone in awe. It was already a spectacular night, and Kitty felt as if it was a downfall.

Joe could understand, though. All she wanted was someone to love her. That wasn't much to ask for in the case of a teenage girl. Joe, however, believed that she was already being loved. Of course God loved her; what would be the reason to create the beautiful, blonde Cheerio if he didn't? Her parents loved her. Her friends loved her. When it came all together, Joe was starting to love her, too.

At least as a friend; he wasn't sure how he felt about her in terms of a more advanced relationship.

Kitty sniffled a little, her eyes staring down at her feet. It was getting a little chilly – probably because the people that owned the building didn't turn the heat on or something – and she was having such a bum time by herself. She wanted to go home and get some rest, taking her mind off of all of the crap that went down. She didn't even care if she got a present from the grab bag. It didn't even matter.

Joe took a couple of steps closer to her. He didn't want to get whacked in the face the way she handled Marley in the other room; he just thought he could help her with her problem. After all, he liked helping people anyway. "Kitty, can I ask you –"

"Will you get out of here?" she asked, annoyed. Her voice sounded really shaky, though. Joe thought that Kitty didn't want him to walk away from her. She needs someone that would be there for her. Joe just wanted to fulfill that.

"Look, I know you're pretty upset," Joe explained to Kitty, who still wouldn't look Joe in the eyes. More water fell freely down her face. She was too ashamed to have this discussion with him. "I know what it's like to feel alone and stuff."

"What do you mean?"

"Trust me, I do." Joe didn't want to go into much detail about how he was shot in the heart by Quinn after hearing about the professor at her school. It was the wrong time to have a breakdown about that. "There are people that love you out there, Kitty. I know. The people from New Directions love you."

Kitty shook her head. "No, they don't. Especially Jake and Marley. I've been complete asses to them the whole night, I'm sure."

"Not completely." Kitty caught Joe looking at her from the corner of her eye. Why would he want to look at how much of a mess the poor girl was anyway? Tears messing up the little bit of make-up she put on her face, her hair messed up from her grabbing at it as she tried to cover her face, her lips trembling as she tried to breathe from the moments of crying in the hallway by herself. She was the Christmas version of white trash.

"Kitty, I promise you," Joe said assuring, "people really do love you, whether it's for a relationship purpose or not. You're just overlooking it. You only see love as in trying to get a boyfriend type of love."

The blonde wiped half of her face and sniffled. "That's the kind of love I'm desperate for. You don't know how many times I've been shot down in elementary school. And Jake…who has eyes for Marley, of all people, won't even consider me as a person he would love. Doesn't he understand that I actually have feelings for him, and that it's not an infatuation type of thing?"

Joe sighed at the sight of the poor girl. She was in so much pain. All she wanted was to have a relationship with Jake, but she's been shot down by him – hell, twice even. At least with the first time, Kitty had more strength and control. Now, she was weaker and more vulnerable. Joe wished that there was something more he could do for the distressed Cheerio.

That's when he thought there _was_ something he could do for her.

"Look, I see that you're still upset and all –"

"Like you haven't seen it at all," the ignorant girl barked, trying to wipe her face off some more with the back of her hand.

Joe extended his hand out to her. Regardless of the tears on her hands, he still wanted to make her feel merry again. "I want you to come back inside with me. I want to show you something. Maybe I can show you how much I actually care so you won't be heartbroken for the rest of the night." Joe hoped this idea would work, and it seemed like the right time for it as well.

Unfortunately, Kitty wasn't in the mood. She shook her head slowly, for she was having a major headache and she didn't want anyone seeing her red eyes. "I'd rather not. I can't be seen by everyone with the face of a beat-up Barbie doll some three-year-old had been playing around with."

Joe nodded understandably, though he really wished Kitty would come with him to see what he was talking about. He thought this was one of the most decent ideas he's had – and pretty much the only one that could save anything at this point.

Seeing that the Cheerio hadn't moved from her seat, Joe stood up and turned towards the entrance to the party. "Okay, but I still want you to understand how I feel about all of this, alright? I pray for you still. I wish you the best of luck, Kitty." And with that, Joe walked back through the door with everyone else, leaving the door open slightly so Kitty could have a chance to come back.

Kitty didn't want to walk back in there, still. She'd rather stay out there in the hallway and rest her mind. She's been working it ever since her sophomore year started. And Jake didn't want to get back with her anyway; so she might as well put her hopeful thinking to rest. It was over. Jake was happy with Marley, and no manipulative force or anything was going to change that.

Why couldn't she have just invited him to his house instead of have an extravaganza where everyone's just watching the drama?

At that moment, Kitty heard some music playing inside. It sounded quite peaceful, like angels were calling to hear to see the bright side of this whole day. Kitty wasn't sure, though. While it was a beautiful tune, she was still receiving the Christmas blues.

Suddenly, the girl could hear a soft harmonizing, one she could almost recognize. It was a masculine voice, along with strings on a guitar playing. Now Kitty was anxious to find out who was singing. She had the assumption that it was Jake, which made her decide on not going anyway. He was probably serenading Marley with another ballad or something.

Kitty listened a little closer to the sound of the person's voice. Turns out that it wasn't Jake at all.

_**Joe  
**__Do you remember me  
__I sat upon your knee  
__I wrote to you  
__With childhood fantasies_

Kitty's eyebrows furrowed. Was this the thing Joe wanted her to see? The blonde teen didn't even know someone like him would sing a Kelly Clarkson tune; she suspected that he was more into Indie rock or whatever the hippies were into these days. She leaned to the side where the door was open so she could eavesdrop over the dreadlocked boy's singing.

_**Joe  
**__Well, I'm all grown up now  
__And still need help somehow  
__I'm not a child  
__But my heart still can dream_

Kitty bit her lip at the sound of the lyrics being sung. To tell the truth, Kitty could easily remember how her childhood was around Christmas time. She was such a spoiled child, and wanted everything her dear heart desired. Now, she could actually relate her love – to most people, obsession – for Jake, and how she would fuss around, and do or say the most crazed things just to get what she wants.

Kitty stood up out of her seat, all of a sudden, and took a couple of steps towards the door to listen closely. She actually liked Joe's voice, and his guitar-playing was superb. Maybe he was right; she did need help. This was probably the thing she needed to lift her spirits.

She opened the door and walked in slowly to find him up onstage singing to everyone. People gazed at her as she walked on in, but she didn't care anymore. Some of them saw her crying in the hallway anyway.

And that's when Joe caught her gaze.

_**Joe  
**__So here's my lifelong wish  
__My grown up Christmas list  
__Not for myself  
__But for a world in need_

He saw her looking at him. She then looked down at the floor bashfully. Joe had heard all of the stories where kids wrote letters to Santa Claus about their Christmas gifts and stuff. According to these lyrics, all Joe wanted was to provide his services to a fellow New Directions friend. He could tell he was doing his job right by the way Kitty looked up at him, smirking at his smile.

_**Joe  
**__No more lives torn apart  
__That wars would never start  
__And time would heal all hearts_

_And everyone would have a friend  
__And right would always win  
__And love would never end, oh…  
__This is my grown up Christmas list_

Kitty bit her lip again. She loved this song, even before Joe had gone up to sing it. She heard from someone in Glee club that he had been homeschooled his whole life, so she found it kind of ironic for him to know the song by heart. Despite that, she felt like singing along, being that it was her favorite Kelly Clarkson Christmas song. She could hear her singing to herself.

_**Kitty  
**__As children we believed  
__The grandest sight to see  
__Was something lovely  
__Wrapped beneath our tree_

Joe could see Kitty moving her mouth as he was singing on the stage. He couldn't help but smile at her, and he walked towards the edge of the stage to grab her attention, which made the bitchy Cheerio a little nervous.

_**Joe  
**__Well heaven only knows  
__That packages and bows  
__Can never heal  
__A hurting human soul_

He beckoned the girl on the stage from where he stood, encouraging her enthusiastically. Kitty looked around. People were gazing at her, and she grew a little more nervous. She felt that she might as well. There couldn't possibly be anything more to make her more embarrassed than she was.

_**Joe and Kitty  
**__No more lives torn apart  
__That wars would never start  
__And time would heal all hearts_

_And everyone would have a friend  
__And right would always win  
__And love would never end (__**Kitty**__: Oh…)  
__This is my grown up Christmas list_

Before Kitty knew it, she and Joe were pretty much pacing around the stage together, glancing at each other in their eyes and smiling. Kitty felt a little relaxed, though her forehead was still aching. She was actually having a little fun when she thought about it. Joe was having fun, too, just looking at Kitty's smile on her face.

_**Joe and Kitty  
**__What is this illusion  
__Called the innocence of youth  
__Maybe only in our blind belief  
__Can we ever find the truth_

_No more lives torn apart (__**Kitty**__: Torn apart)  
__That wars would never start (__**Joe**__: Never start)  
__And time would heal all hearts (__**Kitty**__: All hearts)_

_And everyone would have a friend (__**Joe**__: Would have a friend)  
__And right would always win (__**Joe**__: Would always win)  
__And love would never end (__**Kitty**__: Oh…)  
__This is my grown up Christmas list_

_This is my only type of wish  
__This is my grown up Christmas list_

Joe thought Kitty sounded really beautiful, and her spirit was bright despite of the dark side of her that everyone obviously knew about. Kitty thought Joe sounded strong and completely amazing, if she could say so herself. She actually didn't mind his company after all.

They received a lot of applause from people in the audience, especially Ryder, Jake, and Marley. Kitty found that as a surprise, actually. Moments ago, they were all mad at her. Maybe they still were eternally, but tried to hide it so they wouldn't make Kitty more of an ass. It made sense, but sounded mean at the same time.

Joe walked off the stage and headed off in the hallway with his guitar with the rainbow strap. Kitty, eager to speak with him now, followed him out. "Joe," she called, which made Teen Jesus turn around to take a look at the smile that just wouldn't come off her face. "So…you wanted to sing a song for me?"

"It was the only last-minute preparation I had," Joe explained, leaning his guitar against the wall and putting his hands in his pockets. He could tell that Kitty was feeling better already, and the tears that were falling from her face were drying up. He was so proud of her, and filled with joy just to see her smiling. He couldn't help but request for this next proposition. "Hey," he told the already-eager Cheerio, "I have something else."

Kitty held her hands in front of her body and leaned against the wall, looking at him and waiting for what Joe had in store next. Before she knew it, he had taken something out of his pocket to show her: a mistletoe with a red string loop that he had swiped from the other room.

The blonde stuttered in shock. "Wha – I –"

"But this is only if you're willing, though," Joe added at the last second.

Kitty shook her head slightly. It wasn't that she didn't like Joe at all; she just couldn't believe that was happening in just a couple of minutes of their interaction. Plus, they were both Christian die-hards, and they couldn't dare to break the rules. "What about God, Joe?" She knew it sounded stupid to ask, but she wouldn't expect Joe to request something like this.

"He's watching us, Kitty," Joe explained with confidence. "He would forgive us for our sins. For anything. And you've been pretty down tonight. Looks like you need more than just a few words to make you better again." He brought his free hand up to her forehead to straighten out the hair that had gotten messed up during her breakdown. "Besides…I care for you. I…I really like you."

Joe wasn't expecting for Kitty to be his girlfriend or anything; he just didn't want her to feel jealous or angry. She had everything she could ever ask for: a kick-ass party, a bunch of wonderful friends, her blessed voice, God – she had it all.

To Kitty's eyes, though, trying out Joe wasn't much of a bad idea. "Maybe one kiss wouldn't hurt."

The dreadlocked boy extended his hand with the mistletoe to Kitty, his fingers grabbing at hers, and raising the mistletoe up above them, their arms leaning against the wall. Kitty giggled silently at this action, and then took a moment to gaze at Joe's eyes. She never concluded this before, but she actually did like the way he looked.

After giving Kitty his signature smirk, Joe leaned in slowly on her and gave her a soft, sweet kiss. Kitty reciprocated it, allowing him to press his lips against hers. She didn't realize how experienced he was. He was now pulling her bottom lip closer, which made the girl sigh. Joe never realized he could do that before – or at least, he wasn't confident in attempting before.

While they were still kissing each other, the door opened behind them a couple of steps away. Tina, Sam, and Artie were about to find the bathrooms when they saw Joe and Kitty together. Sam even spotted Joe's hand at Kitty's waist and smirked at him. Sugar had just come out with her arm around Rory, and giggled at the sight of Teen Jesus and the crazed Cheerio.

"Ooh, Joseph…" she sung a bit, a little louder than expected. Tina pulled her with her to the girls' bathroom to give Joe and Kitty some privacy. Artie did the same with Sam and Rory. By the time they were gone, Joe had released himself from the girl and looked her deep in the eyes, stroking her hair again. That was his first kiss, and he felt so relieved. He had all of those feelings a virgin would feel – not that he wasn't still a virgin now.

Kitty looked deep into Joe's eyes, her cheeks blushing a bright pink. She thought Joe was a great kisser, and him doing all of this for her was one of the best things that happened that night. "I think I just found my Christmas miracle," she let out smoothly, her hand reaching for one of his dreadlocks.

Joe smirked back at her again. "I think I found mine, too."

* * *

**Author's Note**: This chapter was the longest one I have. I just had so many feels when writing this one; it was just plain insane. And when I found the song, I just couldn't believe it, either.

Well, I'll have one more chapter, and that will be it. Merry Christmas to all, and a happy New Year!

**Featured Song**:  
"My Grown Up Christmas List" by Kelly Clarkson. Sung by Joe and Kitty.


	10. The Aftermath

Brittany was alone in a separate girls' bathroom, for the one on the first floor where the party was got overcrowded with girls wanting to take pictures of themselves in the mirror. She was okay being alone anyway; she had to take care of something.

She took out her cell phone and dialed a familiar number. She really hoped the person on the other line would pick up. While Brittany was having the best time of her life, she felt that something was still missing. Christmas was supposed to be filled with the best moments of her life. She always had the best moments, though. Christmas just made her feel like a big kid, wanting that one toy in the toy store window.

Now all she needed was her Santa. In fact, she needed her _Santana_.

"Britt?" a raspy voice called on the other line. That made Brittany perk up with so much joy. "I saw your number on my phone. What are you –"

"Santana," she said with almost a whiny tone. "I really miss you. When are you coming back to Lima?"

"Britt," Santana replied unfortunately, "I already told you that I have to finish a paper beforehand, and then I would come straight down there to Lima. Is Quinn coming down there, too?"

"I don't know. I never got a chance to call her."

The dancing blonde could hear her former girlfriend sigh on the other line. "Oh well. I heard last Wednesday that she had to visit some relatives in another state. One of those shitty but upper-middle to high-class state – Pennsylvania or maybe New Hampshire. I don't know."

Brittany shrugged. At least Quinn was able to see her loved ones for Christmas this year – not that Brittany had loved ones of her own. Her aunt and three cousins were always available, and her uncle made the best pies for dessert around the holidays. But she couldn't help but wish that Santana could join along. She was so far away, and time was just too short.

"Well…I just wish you could come sooner," the blonde replied sweetly, pacing around the room. "Christmas just isn't the same without you."

Santana cooed on the other line. "Oh Britt, you're so sweet."

Brittany smirked. "I try. Sometimes a little too hard."

The Latina on the other line giggled. "Maybe, maybe not. You really don't, though. I love how adorable you are, actually." She sounded seductive then, which made Brittany a little tingly inside. It was such a shame that they weren't girlfriends anymore. They promised that they would be able to work it out later on, but that seemed like too far away. "Well, I have to finish up here, Britt."

This made the girl pout. She didn't want the call to Santana to end so early. She hoped she would come down to Ohio very soon. She was starting to miss sitting next to her in front of the fire at her abuela's home. Unfortunately, for Santana, her abuela wasn't speaking to her after the forever held-in secret about her being a lesbian. Brittany wondered if they would ever speak again after that devastating evening.

Brittany knew one thing, for certain: she would love Santana no matter what happened or how everything wonderful to shitty existed in the world. She just wished a temporary break-up wasn't so difficult.

"Okay, I guess. I'll call you later on if you're not busy."

"I promise to call you back, Britt. Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

And with that, the blonde and the brunette hung up on each other. Brittany just stood in the ladies' bathroom, hopeless and alone. This wasn't like any of the other Christmases she had at all. They were all magical. The snow and the Christmas lights made them magical. The presents in the stocking and under the tree made them magical. Santana made them magical.

At least she had her friends in McKinley to keep her spirits up, though it was for only about a temporary amount of time.

As the girl exited the second floor bathroom and headed down the steps, she encountered Sam in the hallway, texting to Finn Hudson, who was somewhere in Florida with his mother for the holidays. Brittany couldn't help but smile at him. She didn't plan on having him as a boyfriend for life or anything – Santana pretty much called dibs on being Brittany's boyfriend and girlfriend for life since the evening of the Valentine's Day party last year. Brittany was just glad she had a best buddy aside from her temporarily former girlfriend.

Brittany skipped off the steps, and headed towards the guppy-lipped boy. "You enjoying the night still?" she asked sweetly. She caught Sam's smile easily, being that everyone pretty much teased about the way his lips looked.

"You trying to cheer me up because you shot me down, or are you serious?"

"No, I was serious."

Sam smirked. "I know. I feel okay now that I've discussed it with you and all. I don't want anything forced and stuff like that." He followed the blonde down the hall and towards the party, which was still going on strong. Sam noticed something from Brittany's face. "How are you holding up?"

"Okay, I guess," Brittany explained. "I've been trying to keep in touch with Santana –"

"She didn't respond?"

"No. She won't be here until she's finished with her paper. I'm not sure how long that will be; but from the looks of it, it seems like a while. I hope it's not after Christmas, though. The magic would've been gone."

Sam nodded understandably. "I know. It sucks when things don't go your way." Brittany nodded at his last statement. She knew the same thing for Sam as well. She knew they weren't going to be together and that Sam really wanted to have someone; but at least he had what he was able to get.

She felt his hand touch her, for he was trying to receive her attention. "Hey Britt," Sam said, looking around the room full of partying people. "I gotta show you something really quick. Come with me."

Brittany grew curious as to where this was going, but followed Sam anyway to one side of the room. They walked past Rachel and Brody, who were dancing to the tune to _Silent Night_ while having a conversation among themselves.

"So what do you plan on doing after you leave?" Brody asked the shorter brunette. "You going to visit any relatives or anything?"

Rachel shrugged before recalled something she had received from her father, Leroy. "Well, my dads are going on a cruise, and I'm going with them," she replied. She went back to thinking of any other plans that were stuck in the back of her head. "And then…well, I don't really know, to be honest."

"Not much. Then again, you pretty much have your Christmas planned out for yourself."

"Well, when you're a freshman student in one of the most prestigious schools in New York, and you don't really know your way around, you've gotta start somewhere. And then lounge or so when you don't have much else planned…I guess." Rachel felt a little awkward when she just said that, but she was talking with Brody. She had gotten used to him over the last few months she's been in NYADA.

"I don't really have much in store for me after my two-day stay in a hotel in San Francisco, so maybe –"

"Two days?"

Brody shrugged. "Starting tomorrow. I'm just gonna see a couple of relatives that live down there, see the sights, go to a concert, lounge around, bake in the sun – the works. Then when I get back home, it will be Christmas eve. Maybe then, we could get together and do something, if you like."

Rachel grinned, but then thought a little longer about it. This would be her first Christmas eve with Brody, maybe Christmas day, eventually. She's been there for her all of those other times, so it couldn't hurt. And there was no point in inviting Finn over, because the tension between the two of them would just grow like the first time they've met. Rachel liked both of them, but she didn't want a fight for Christmas, and Finn has been taking care of things back at home with his mother and the New Directions members.

That didn't change the fact that she missed him, though. In fact, it's been a while since she got to see his face. He must've been working extremely hard to not be able to drop by in New York for a visit. Or maybe he was feeling too guilty of the break-up to even come back. He seemed to have forgotten about that, though.

Finn aside, Rachel thought everything this year for Christmas would patch together nicely. She had Brody and Kurt for friends, and friends is what Rachel needs right now. "Maybe we could work something out," she finally replied to the taller brunette.

Brody smiled. "Of course."

As they continued to dance with each other, Blaine and Kurt were dancing about five steps away and gazing at the sight of the two. Blaine never knew Rachel would be that grown up since she graduated. Granted, the afterlife of high school could really develop a lot of people. And Rachel was just stunning to him now – and that was more than her wardrobe and long, flowing hair. She was and wiser and more confident than she ever was.

When he overheard a conversation Finn had about sending Rachel off to the Big Apple to pursue her dreams, he knew one thing was right: people have a lot of beneficial changes in their lives, especially when they grow out of their comfort zones and spread out a little more. He thought the same way about Kurt. Hell, he had an internship at , was now a NYADA student thanks to Carmen Tibideaux accepting him at the Winter Showcase a couple of weeks back.

That made Blaine guiltier than before, actually. Kurt graduated from high school, and was living life as a college student and trying to get where he needs to go. It wasn't Blaine's right to keep interrupting him like he did. It certainly wasn't right for him to cheat on Kurt, either. Blaine hated cheating, and he hated what he did to Kurt. It devastated Kurt, and it devastated him for actually attempting the stupid charade.

He turned to the porcelain brunette. "Kurt, can I ask you something?"

The New York-bound college student turned his head towards the dark-eyed boy with the massive amount of hair gel in his hair. "Yeah."

"I just wanted to say that I hope there won't be any more arguments between the two of us. We basically have gone through a rough patch this year, especially this school year. I was kind of pestering you a bit –"

"Blaine, you weren't. Really." Blaine, however, didn't believe much in it. He made Kurt cry, and his eyes a sickening red. That was probably the saddest scene Blaine had ever witnessed since the many deaths featured in _Les Mis_. Oh God, and that was one of Kurt's favorite musicals. Being reminded of the Vogue intern was only going to make Blaine miss Kurt more.

"I was," he told the boy. "That's what started this break-up in the first place, remember? Me getting upset over you not returning my calls."

Kurt cocked an eyebrow. "I thought cheating on me with a stranger you met on Facebook was the thing that started all of this."

"That was the effect, Kurt."

Kurt turned forward and deadpanned. "I'm still calling to whatever spirit out there to send me to my grave just because of that."

Blaine grabbed the New York boy's hand. "Believe me when I say I'm sorry. I never wanted to hurt you like that. I regretted it. I did. I never thought it would reach that point. Promise me that we'll be alright, and we can still have more happy moments. Not just now before Christmas, but many more to come. You understand?"

Kurt thought about it for a couple of seconds. Staying mad at someone wasn't the answer to any problem. If anything, that would just increase the problem. And as much as he wanted to kick Eli C's God-forsaken ass, Kurt still forgave Blaine for what happened, though he did need some time alone to be sure.

"Okay then," he replied, which made Blaine sigh in relief. "But if I find someone on your Facebook again, I have the right to shove my foot up their ass."

"Wouldn't you ruin your designer brand shoes?" Blaine teased.

"I can give two fucks about my shoes and how much blood and shit is on there. I just want to get a few – maybe several, even – kicks into that unknown guy's ass." Kurt knew that he certainly learned a thing or two from Santana after that letting-out-steam moment.

Blaine giggled. "Deal."

Out of nowhere, two familiar faces to Blaine approached him. "Blaine?" a brunette sophomore spoke with her lovely voice.

"Marley," Blaine greeted with a grin on his face. Jake happened to stroll right by him, his arm around Marley. "How are you guys enjoying the party?"

"You know, I thought I wouldn't have such a wonderful night before," Marley explained, "but I'm actually enjoying it. Despite all of the crap that went down between Kitty and I, this was pretty much one of the best parties I've ever been to."

Jake nodded in agreement. "Not even my own half bro could handle something as kick-ass as this." Kurt, Blaine, and Marley all gave him stares, which Jake found to be a little awkward. Still, he could give a crap less about what they thought. "No offense or anything."

Kurt looked from left to right where he stood. "Speaking of which, what happened to the little heiress? She was just in here about forty minutes ago." He couldn't exactly catch where Kitty had gone after she had her duet with Joe onstage. He assumed that she had gone in the hallway again to cry away the rest of her feelings away.

"I haven't seen her since her song," Jake replied. "Is she still mad at us?"

"Probably not," Blaine responded, waving his hand off. "Maybe she found her friends from the Cheerios or something so they could cheer her up or something. Do you need help finding her?"

Jake and Marley waved their hands off. "No," Marley said, glancing up at Jake and back at Blaine. "I'm sure we can find her. I heard from Sam Evans that you used to date, correct?"

The two gay males looked at each other, confused. No one would expect a typical sophomore girl to know what the two were even up to. "Yeah," Kurt said, giving her a sweet smile. "We're still trying to work it out, kind of. I see you and Jake are together. You guys look very adorable."

Marley blushed and Jake smirked.

"Thanks, man." Jake replied. "You guys enjoy the rest of the party, and….well, we hope for the best." Man, why the hell did he sound so awkward just then?

"See you guys later," Blaine replied, and watched Marley and Jake walk away hand in hand. Once they left, he returned to dancing with Kurt, who still didn't have a clue as to what their deal was.

"What a sweet yet nosy little –"

"Kurt, don't start. We're not going to do this."

Kurt shrugged. "I'm just sayin'."

Over at a table off the side of the dance floor, Kitty and Joe were sitting down and having their food for the evening. They kept in each other's company ever since they had their duet and their little Christmas miracle moment in the hallway. Surprisingly, Kitty thought kicking back was better than tensing up and trying to cause trouble. She still wanted to be represented as the head bitch she was, but taking a break from it relieved her.

As she sat there and ate a ham sandwich she prepared herself at the food table, she observed the dreadlocked boy before her as he ate some of the mixed vegetables on his plate. She couldn't get over how long his hair was, though when she first saw him, she would always see a homeless person. A homeless person wouldn't be as smart as Joe would be, though.

Joe took a moment to stop eating, and gazed at Kitty, who hid her face behind her hand and continued to eat her sandwich. "Something on your mind?" There wasn't much of a surprise that Kitty was blushing behind her hand; Joe could clearly see her smile. Joe wasn't even sure if she found him attractive before, if not interesting.

"I'm not really sure," Kitty responded, placing her sandwich back down. "I'm glad my party turned out to be a huge success –"

"I thought you meant _extravaganza_."

"Doesn't matter to me much anymore." Joe shrugged and continued eating his mixed vegetables. "After all of this, I don't really know how I feel. Before I pretty much did this so I would be in the running towards the next homecoming princess next year and all –"

Joe cocked his eyebrow. "Popularity purposes?"

Kitty shrugged, chewing on the meat inside her mouth and swallowing it. "Kind of a guilty goal for me, I guess. One of them, at least."

"Doesn't seem much like a good idea to me."

"That's the thing, though," Kitty replied. "Before I did it to be popular and stuff. But then you spit out that therapeutic crap about me actually having people that like me and stuff. Now that I think of it, even though I despised Marley for what she's done to the skin on my left arm –" She showed Joe the scar on her arm, and he nodded understandably. " – I actually have that…Christmassy feel and stuff. You know?"

Joe shrugged. "Well, you have a lot of friends, Kitty. And they love you as a friend. Love is everywhere in the air, to be honest. God wanted all of us to love one another, right?"

Kitty rolled her eyes after drinking a little of her punch. "Okay, you don't have to remind me, Bob Marley. I go to church, too, and I know you'll do anything to win the first place trophy on a featured-only-in-heaven TV show called _Christian Idol_ or something like that. I get it."

Joe giggled under his breath. Kitty had some type of spunk in her that Joe always noticed since she's joined New Directions. He was being reminded of Santana when he first met her. He was terrified of her since that whole issue about homosexuality was put on the table. Now he's gotten used to her, and he's gotten used to Kitty as well.

Kitty could tell Joe liked her. He laughed every time she said some type of hilarious quote she held in her sleeves. She found it adorable how he smiled at people. Of course, Joe was one of those happy-go-lucky type of people, and he smiled at anyone to remind them to have a good day and such. He actually made Kitty's day better, which improved her attitude.

"Well, well, well…"

Joe and Kitty both heard Sam approach their table, accompanied by Brittany. Joe smirked when he remembered hearing voices of his fellow New Directions members behind him when he experienced his first kiss with Kitty. It was a surreal experience for him, but Kitty should've received more sympathy then than all of the pity she got.

Sam leaned against an empty chair, looking Joe and Kitty in their eyes. "If it isn't the Avatar and the Barbie doll?" He spotted Kitty giving him an icy glare, but he could care less since he thought it was funny to tease them.

Brittany leaned towards Sam, with her eyes still on Joe. "I thought he was a _brunette_ Barbie, and she was the blonde one."

Kitty and Joe both furrowed their eyebrows at the dumbfounded Cheerio. Joe certainly knew more than Kitty about how the girl was confused on the boy's gender.

"So Kitty, you still wanna kick Marley's ass?" Trouty Mouth asked, biting into a gingerbread cookie.

"Sam!" the dreadlocked boy warned him, which made Sam shrug.

"You don't have to worry about me anymore," Kitty explained. "I feel a lot better thanks to your alien Bible thumper here." Joe playfully rolled his eyes at her last comment. "I learned a lesson that I thought I wouldn't even understand. Sure, I didn't get the guy that I wanted since the beginning of the school year and all –"

At this comment, Joe placed his hand on Kitty's arm. "Look on the bright side," he spoke to her. "You have God and all of your friends."

Sam smirked. "You especially have Joe," he replied, which made the dreadlocked boy grit his teeth a bit.

Kitty rolled her eyes at the both of them. "You typical, simple bastards."

Joe and Sam looked at each other, playfully rolling their eyes, and then at Kitty. "Merry Christmas, Kitty."

* * *

**Author's Note**: I swear, I thought I would be done with this earlier. Sorry to keep you all waiting. Anyway, this is done. What did you think? And stay tuned for my other stories. Happy holidays to you all!


End file.
